Republic: The Centre Cannot Hold
by Sati James
Summary: 1st in the Long Live The Republic series AU Star Wars/Stargate SG1 Crossover Jedi Exile James Koren heads into the unknown regions where he helps the Eidelons/Sebeceans/Dilgar/Minbari form a new government a new force user order and Ra is having a bad day
1. Chapter 1 In The Heart of Malachor

I own none of the TV, movies, books or games mentioned

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PLEASE READ THESE NOTES SO YOU KNOW WHATS GOING ON!

For my Star Wars location information and travel times between different points I am using the galaxy map that came with the official Star Wars fact file as this is the most accurate and easy to understand. And its above my desk :P

I HAVE MODIFIED A GALACTIC MAP TO SHOW MY STAR WARS GALAXY AT THE END OF THE YUUZHAN VONG WAR. However I have nowhere to post it so if you email me I'll email you a copy. You can (hopefully) understand by my descriptions the state of the galaxy by looking at a standard galactic map from Google images search as I have only added two planets to it.

Almost all the armour and weaponry for the Star Wars main characters comes from a couple of fan created mods for the standard game. I will describe them in detail but links are available at the bottom of the page. The mods have visual accompaniments so you can see them for yourself.

I should mention now that I am going to make some serious changes to the Star Wars universe before contact is made between SG1 and the Republic. This is because I just don't like the Empire or the Old Republic and its Jedi in its final years so I have torn up quite a bit and this is where a little of Farscape and Freespace 2 and Babylon 5 come in providing me with the resources and races to use. I have made the changes to the star wars universe brief, a whistle stop tour of the important events so that the contact between the Stargate universe and the Republic doesn't come 30 chapters in but this story is still pretty much all Star Wars, the crossover begins in its sequel Republic: Into The Fire. Unfortunately if you don't read it it will be pretty difficult to keep up with the changes I've made to the Star Wars Universe. However when I'm done the Galactic Republic that the Jedi exile is part of should be more or less the same as the one he left simply less corrupt and with new ships and weaponry. I Just couldn't make the final old republic, New Republic or Galactic Alliance into what I thought they should be.

I have taken some liberties with the timeline of both the Star Wars universe and that of Stargate. The chief ones being that the siege of Atlantis was 100,000 years ago not 10,000.

I will be using the classic "Scene Break" signified by the line below so I can jump around a bit. I'm sorry if you don't like it but it's the easiest way to do it and I'm still very new at this.

As I said I'm still very new at this so all constructive criticism is welcome. If you just want to complain though don't bother, cause I certainly wont read it.

Ok lets get on with it

I don't own Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2, star wars, Stargate, Farscape or Freespace

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**Prologue**

It has been said that one person, one decision is all that it takes to change the universe. That is not strictly true. One decision can start an avalanche but only if another acts on it, and another and another, but once it begins there is no stopping the avalanche that that first decision has unleashed. Deep in the heart of Malachor V in the central chamber of the Trayus academy such a event was about to take place. For the last time master and student stood together, for the last time the student questioned and the master answered. Deep in her mind the master pondered her students last question. How much information should she give him? The mere sentence that her training said she should? Or the more detailed answer that she longed to give her pupil? Unbidden a memory flashed before her eyes. "There shall be no more secrets, no more lies, that I promise you" she had promised her student the full truth, she decided to trust her instincts, to keep her promise and tell all she knew. The universe held its breath. The student would think long and hard about the answer he had been given before deciding that the fate of the galaxy was to dark, the consequences to dire to let the future unfold unchallenged. The universe turned. The second decision had been made, the avalanche had begun…

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**Chapter 1 – In the Heart of Malachor**

**120,000 years ago – Corellia**

In the space above the planet that would one day be known as Corellia an event that would change the fate of three entire galaxies was about to occur. Among the brightly shining stars a purple and blue cloud appeared and spat out ship the like of which and never been seen in the galaxy before. It was a beautiful ship, sleek geometric lines gave her a graceful and yet deadly appearance, the copper colour of her hull appeared both warm and welcoming and strong and durable. She was one of the most deadly ships in known space. She was a Alteran Aurora.*

After a period of intense scanning to make sure the system was uninhabited, required for the Alterans as they would never forcibly displace an indigenous population nor interact directly with them for fear of being seen as gods, the ship gracefully entered a standard orbit above Corellia. From the holds of the ship containers and material fell onto the surface to begin the process of teraforming it so that it could support life in this form. Others moved out passed orbits where Centrepoint Station would place planets to create the Lantian capitol in this galaxy and began to construct a giant ring shaped object. Every race would have assumed it to be decorative or an observation or military outpost, after all what else could something that large be? Two years later when the supergate activated for the first time they would not have believed their eyes.

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**101,000 years ago – Corellia**

Alteran general Hippofulralkis stood on the bridge of his Aurora and looked out over the lush planets in the distance. It just didn't seem fair. For as long as they had been in existence the Lantians had always been the supreme military power where ever they were. Now, because of one dammed little bug that had all changed. The Aratis bug as Dr Carson Beckett would call one day call it had blended with the humans on their world and become a terrifying new life form. They called themselves the Wraith. And they fed off human and Alteran life force.

It had all started out so promisingly, victory seemed only a matter of time for although the wraith were indeed powerful and their mastery of bioorganic technology unsurpassed the Alteran fleets still held a great technological advantage. Supreme in their confidence the Alteran high council had sent their mighty Auroras deep into wraith territory hoping to bring the war to a swift end. Unfortunately, though it cost the wraith much in ships and drones, three of those ships had been boarded and captured. Shortly after the wraith started to appear in unheard of numbers and began to wear the Alterans down by sheer attrition. The council was recalling all Alteran assets in this galaxy to help defend Atlantis while their scientists and tacticians searched for some way, any way, to shift the balance back in the Alterans favour. He understood it, he agreed with it, it didn't mean he liked it.

He felt rather than heard his first officer approaching and knew that the time had come to leave. As he gave orders for the fleet to form up he offered up a silent prayer for the humans that were seeded on the core worlds of this galaxy, they hadn't installed a Stargate network yet and now they would not be their to protect and guide them. The future of the galaxy was in their hands now, for unlike the rest of his crew he had access to all the reports from the front lines and he did not think that the Alterans would ever return. The humans of this galaxy would now rise or fall on their own.

The Alteran fleet entered the event horizon of the supergate for the last time. Once they were gone the gate powered down and cloaked, waiting silently until the day that it would be needed again.

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**100,000 years ago – Atlantis**

"It is done" Janus thought to himself as he entered one last command into Atlantis's command console. "The supergate connecting the Pegasus Galaxy to the Kailua and the Milky Way galaxies has self destructed. The Wraith will never be able to use it to follow us to Earth or to exploit the Kailua Galaxy. Now those two supergates connect only to each other, we will have to decide weather to destroy those ones to once we have our civilisation up and running again on the ancient home."

Looking around one last time the last Alteran entered the Atlantis Stargate for Earth, they never returned.

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**4,000 years ago – Malachor V **

Standing atop the central spire of the Trayus academy Jedi Exile James Koren paused and looked around, the silver spires reached up like a claw all around him, the floor, appropriately blood red, was scorched and pitted, the result of the last battle with his master, Jedi Master Kreia or as she had been at the end, and perhaps all along, Darth Traya, Dark Lady of the Sith. He looked up, his long brown hair that ended just above his shoulders was matted with sweat from the battle and framed his pale face, his full red lips that would not have looked out of place on a girl parted to ask his final question, the one he longed to ask, the one he dreaded the answer to.

"I already know what he is going to ask" Kreia thought to herself with some amusement "his light blue eyes are sparkling with hope and love. Anyone else would think he is to ask about a lover but I know him better than most. No woman nor man could make his eyes light up like that, only his beloved Galactic Republic can do that."

"And what of the Republic? James whispered Have I done enough? Is it safe?" "please let it be safe" he thought "I have done everything I could to preserve it because The Galactic Republic stands for something. Its stood for something for 15,000 years and if its light goes out the galaxy will feel nothing but pain and despair. I know its not perfect but it's the best that we have, and its proof that we are trying to create a true free and just galaxy, one system at a time" James felt the burning in his chest that came whenever he thought about the Republic. "We are still so far from the goal but so much closer to it than we have been at any time before. A galaxy where the weak do not have to fear that the strong will enslave or kill them simply because they can. A galaxy where those who have no voice will not have what little they own ripped from them by the powerful and the greedy. A galaxy where the weak and the powerless will not bleed on the front lines of a thousand small and petty wars, where they need not die alone in the cold and friendless night. This is why I fight so hard. This is why I love the Republic" with great difficulty James tore himself away from the thoughts running though his head to focus on his master one last time. "She has been a long time preparing her answer" he thought "could it be she is debating how much to tell me?"

"The Republic is safe for now"

James had almost collapsed at the news that the Republic was safe but as soon as the last of that sentence registered he fell into the standard stance of his favoured lightsaber form. Form VII, Juyo. The ferocity and power of this form was unmatched against a single opponent and performed very well against multiple opponents even if they were wielding blasters. Unfortunately the concentration required left the user very vulnerable to force power attacks so it was best to keep your enemy to busy defending to use them. James's eyes sharpened allowing the formidable intelligence that lurked just out of sight to locked onto Kreia and demanded answers. "For now?" Kreia new that this was not a question. It was a demand

"The Sith are cunning 3,000 years from now they will go into hiding and the Jedi will become weak and stagnant but proud of this. When the Sith corrupt the senate from within, when the Republic weakens they will dismiss the signs, when the Republic enters its death throws they will pin their hopes on a small boy, a chosen one, for none of them are powerful enough to stand against the Sith any longer. He will be found on the outer rim and brought to the temple but the Jedi have become flawed. The arrogance and blindness of Kavar, Zez Ki El and Vrook is nothing compared to the council that will preside over the death of the Republic they swore to protect. Placed under so much pressure and with nothing but hypocritical teachings as his guide the Sith find him easy prey, 4,000 years from now THE REPUBLIC WILL BE REORGANISED INTO THE FIRST GALACTIC EMPIRE, FOR A SAFE AND SECURE SOCITY." The last was exclaimed in a male voice, the voice of a kindly old man speaking of what he is passionate about, the voice of the Sith that had used deception and guile to achieve what 15,000 years of repeated war had not. The downfall of the Galactic Republic.

James could not, would not believe that the Jedi had become so stupid, so blind as to completely fail to protect the Republic from a single Sith Lord. "But then", He thought wryly, " look at the situation we are in now myself and my companions are forced to save the Republic because the Jedi could not. Because they grew weak and then fled into hiding looking for some way, any way, to justify abandoning their responsibility to stand and fight for the Republic they swore to preserve. Hiding hoping to draw your enemy out seems like a bold and courageous plan when compared to putting all your hopes on a small boy and saying well WE'RE not going to fix the mistakes we've made and fight, YOU better do it for us! Just when I think the arrogance of the Jedi has reached its height it breaks through the ceiling yet again."

"Surely" James asked his master "There will be those that fight, that rebel, to keep the principles of the Republic intact. How long does the Empire last? Does a New Republic not rise from the ashes of its inevitable fall?" "and the fall will be inevitable" he thought " If not from rebellion then from civil war as the Sith multiply and fight amongst themselves. So it has been for all the Sith Empires that have risen since the dark side users first split from the Jedi. I see no reason for this one to be different."

"It does" Kreia replied " But the galaxy is left weak and fractured by the civil war that brought down the Empire. Many sectors decided to strike out on their own, warlords carved out their own territories and the Imperial Remnant held onto all the territory it could. The New Republic was the largest and most powerful of the factions but it was still a mere shadow of the government that spans the galaxy today. Then with the galaxy divided, distracted, the enemy strikes. I know you have felt it, just as Revan did, the enemy that lies in the dark between the galaxies. Arriving in the dying days of the Republic they were patient, they waited until the galaxy was at its weakest and struck. The major powers of the Galaxy held to much hatred for each other and arrogance in their own superiority to put up a unified front and the New Republic and its rival states were destroyed. Further than this I can not see, the enemy is like an absence in the force and they hide the fate of the galaxy from me. I fear though that their victory was total and that from then on the galaxy shall know only pain."

James immediately began to plan on how to save the Republic from the fall that his master had predicted

Kreia seemed to read his thoughts "There is one last thing that I wish to tell you. The Republic that survives to that era cannot be fixed. It has quite simply become rotten to the core. Even if you save it from the fate I have predicted it will not last much longer. But there is hope for the civilisation that you dream of. What you love is not the Republic itself but the principals on which it was founded. Deep I the unknown regions, on a planet known as Arnessk there is a race that thinks as you do but the Sith are about to strike them down. Save them and you can create a new government in the unknown regions, one that is free of corruption, free of the Jedi hypocrisy and that will live past the Republics fall, that will remain strong to meet the enemy that lies in the dark.

As much as he wanted to scream and rage James could feel that Kreia's wounds had finally caught up with her and that her time on this plane of existence had ended. "That is all I wished to know. Thank you Master, you can rest now"

And Kreia, Jedi Master and Dark Lady of the Sith died.

As if Malachor V had sensed her death the entire planet began to quake, and a feeling that he had not experienced since the end of the Mandalorian wars took hold. "Good" James thought "Bao Dur has managed to reactivate the mass shadow generator. At last we will finish what we started so long ago and send this planet to its grave." "One small problem he thought while dodging dozens of falling boulders "IM STILL ON IT!"

Suddenly his premonition was screaming that he needed to be at this spot NOW, said spot was well off the central pillar with a several kilometre drop but the Jedi premonitions had never let him down since the force had returned to him so James took a deep breath, looked into the void, and leapt…

…Right into the arms of Mira who was leaning out of the Ebon Hawks boarding ramp.

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	2. Chapter 2 Escaping and Healing

I own none of the TV, movies, books or games mentioned

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**Chapter 2 –Escaping and Healing**

**4,000 Years Ago - Malachor V**

"Thanks" James yelled to Mira as she hauled him inside the rapidly manoeuvring space craft. She looked very dishevelled, her hair and robes were covered with the dust from Malachor Vs surface and she appeared to have several cuts and bruises and to be favouring her left side.

"Any time" she replied as James resolved to ask about the fight that she had obviously been in later. "After all I cant have my bounty dieing on me, I'd never get to collect the credits" she said smiling as they headed to wards Atton in the cockpit. It was a running joke between the two friends as Mira, a former bounty hunter had tracked him down on Nar Shaddar and managed to capture him alive, not a feat that many accomplished but then she wasn't the best bounty hunter on Nar Shaddar for nothing. "Yeh well just remember that you have to turn yourself in two now" James replied as the passed the security room. After getting to know Mira during their gallivanting around the outer rim, and lets face it there wasn't much else to do in the day long trips between star systems in a vessel as small as the Ebon Hawk except get to know each other, James had not only discovered that she was force sensitive but had also managed to convince her to let him show her how to 'listen' to Nar Shaddar. Mira had, upon him suggesting that he train her to become a Jedi, joked that she would have to turn herself in for the credits. Inwardly James smiled as he remembered his entirely truthful response to that "Well as a Jedi, trust me, you'll always be short of credits"

The mechanical voice of the rust red assassin droid he had some how managed to acquire brought him back to the present as yet another small piece of debris impacted the ship "Statement: Pilot Meatbag could you possibly try NOT to hit every single one?" it was a statement of how hard Atton Rand, the Ebon Hawks best pilot, was having to concentrate on keeping them all in one piece that he didn't even respond to HK-47s insults.

James quickly took stock of the shear amount of debris they were flying though to escape the collapsing planet, or at least the bits he could see through the forward view port, and decided that Atton needed all the help that he could get. "Mira jump in the co-pilots seat and watch the sensors, try and warn Atton ahead of time of any large pieces of debris or denser pockets that are in our path. I'm heading to the turret"

James ran back down the corridor through the main communal area where Mical was clinging onto the hologram projection tank that dominated the middle of the room and to the ladder opposite the medical bay. Climbing up he quickly reached the double barrelled light laser turret that the Ebon Hawk had in the centre of its dorsal* hull for defence. He quickly rotated the turret and began blasting away at any piece of debris that the tactical sensor, located below the gun sights, said was heading at the ship. Unfortunately that was rather a lot of debris "Sithspit I thought there were alot of targets in that space battle over Onderon when Cornel Tobin attempted to keep us from landing, there has to be a hundred times the targets here. At least there not shooting back otherwise we'd be really screwed." At that moment the shield indicator entered the red and began making an ominous beeping sound warning that the shields were down to ~20% strength and wouldn't take many more hits. "Of course if we loose the shields before we get out of this debris cloud then it wont matter if their not shooting back, the next impact will pulverize us." Thankfully there seemed to be less and less targets allowing him to be far more accurate with his shooting and Atton far more effective in his dodging. The Ebon hawk finally cleared the debris field around the collapsing Malachor V with 2% shield strength remaining and several newly acquired large dents but otherwise unharmed.

"Thank the force" James whispered to himself and hit the intercom "Ok everybody we have lived through yet another of the galaxies attempts to kill us so we can all relax. Everyone can do what they feel needs doing but I'd like everyone at the holo tank in a couple of hours. I need to tell you all some things including what I have decided to do next and you need to know all the information and what I plan on doing before you decide if you want to come along. See you in a couple of hours."

James climbed down the ladder and walked to the galactic map displayed at the back of the cockpit before staring at it for a while. "So where are we heading?" Atton had slipped out of the pilots seat and sneaked up behind him without him noticing. As he jumped and turned around to face the pretty brown eyed pilot he wondered why he was surprised by this. After serving in the Mandalorian wars and defecting with Revan Atton had been trained as a Jedi killer, this of course meant that he could sneak up unnoticed if he wanted to. That informant on Nar Shaddar had done a surprising favour for James when telling him that Atton had been on the smugglers moon before under a different name. After thinking it over for several days on their journey from Nar Shaddar to Dantooine James had decided to confront Atton about it. After all, at that stage, Atton had been showing signs that he was reluctant about staying and James hoped that confronting him would either force him to leave, not desirable but better than having a man who doesn't want to be there guarding your back, or force whatever was bothering him out into the open. Whoa boy had it worked. The revelations Atton came out with were shocking but James felt better about having asked, carrying around that you had captured, tortured and killed Jedi and then had one give their life to stop the Sith finding out you were force sensitive and doing the same to you had to have been nearly impossible for him. " I would have probably gone insane" James thought.

He smiled though at the memory of him and Atton out on the Dantooine plains after they had saved Koonda. It was just the two of them as James had raided the cargo hold for some food, avoiding Brianna had been quite a task when doing that, and asked Atton to accompany him out onto the plains. He nearly laughed when he remembered the look on Atton's face when he'd brought out his improvised 'picnic' Atton had thought that he'd been about to ask him out on a date and when James had said "Atton I have something important to ask you" the look of mad panic had nearly made him burst out laughing. In fact when he asked Atton if, since he was force sensitive, he would like to be trained as a Jedi the way he had practically collapsed with relief had James literally rolling around on the floor laughing. Atton had seen the funny side eventually.

"Your thinking about when you asked if I wanted you to train me aren't you" Atton said as he flicked his light brown hair out of his eyes. "How can you tell?" James replied still grinning. "Oh the incredibly evil smile gave it away" Atton said attempting to keep a straight face as his eyes danced with laughter. "Well you have to admit the look on your face was pretty funny." "Yeh it probably was but then I had an excuse, up until that point I was trying desperately to think of a way to tell the extremely heavily armed and skilled Jedi Sentinel that I didn't want to date him without causing him to go on a homicidal rampage, throw me off the ship or dissolve into tears" "well you failed then didn't you 'cause I ended up crying with laughter" Atton grinned before turning back to the galactic map "So where are we heading o'fearless leader?" "You may not want to follow me this time my friend" James said looking pensive "After all I am going to attempt to create a new government in the unknown regions and right now it consists of just me." "Make that both of us" Atton replied putting an arm around his friends shoulders "If anyone can create a new government from nothing you can. After all you've had enough practice at saving and destroying them to know what to avoid." "Perhaps but this time it will probably take the rest of my life and their could still be nothing but broken dreams at the end" "All the more reason for me to be their with you, your entirely to sensitive" James punched him on the shoulder "I'm serious though Atton. The chances of me pulling this off are so remote its not worth calculating. You could stay here, reinvent yourself again, find a nice girl and settle down mumph" Atton had put his hand over James's mouth to stop him babbling and turned to face him placing his hands on his friends shoulders.

As cocky as he acted Atton felt that right now he needed to show the sensitivity that he would usually deny all knowledge of or else James would convince himself that Atton was better off without him and leave him behind as he went off on yet another of his mad quests and probably got himself killed. "James you are my best friend. You are the first friend I have had since before I joined the Republic Army, you're the only one in the galaxy that I've told about my past, you've forgiven me for killing your fellow Jedi and you've trained me in the ways of the force and if all of that wasn't enough you still want me around now that you no longer need every blaster you can get your hands on. No one has ever done that for me, but then I shouldn't be surprised, you have inscribed 'loyalty unto death' into your lightsaber. How could I not want to travel with you? Besides without me who would vet your potential boyfriends?

James Koren, Jedi Exile, Jedi General, slayer of three Sith Lords and veteran of more battles than could be counted would deny until his dying day that he had tears in his eyes. After being abandoned by Revan and the Jedi he followed to war, exiled by the council when he returned and shunned by everyone he had ever known Atton's declaration meant more to him than his friend would ever realize. "He's probably thinking the same thing but in reverse" James thought "By the force we make a right pair. Pair? The whole dam ships filled with enough mental problems and abandonment issues to keep a whole psychiatric hospital busy for decades!" But as much as the rest of the crew were his friends as well he and Atton had a forged a special bond. Both had abandoned everything they knew to fight for what they believed was right, both had been betrayed by the side they had chosen. Already the master and apprentice force bond was forming after only a few moths of Atton being his student. Just then Atton's last sentence registered "Oh no. He's not getting away with that!" "But Atton" James said trying to keep his grin under control "I wont have any potential boyfriends, they'll all think I'm taken" "No one ever questions me about my sexuality" Atton proclaimed proudly "That's 'cause they all just assume your gay" James replied before taking off down the corridor with Atton in hot pursuit.

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**1 hour later**

Despite wishing that he could act childish and irresponsible with Atton for a bit longer Jedi Watchman James Koren was standing at the Ebon Hawks coffee machine and trying to put himself in a more serious frame of mind. Acting like a teenager had really helped to relieve some of the tension that had built up over the months spent flying and fighting all around the galaxy with Sith assassins leaping out of every ally and around every corner. However with Kreia gone he was now sole master of five Jedi apprentices and all the responsibility that he had signed up for when offering to teach them all he knew and right now one of them needed their master, not James acting like the child the Jedi had never allowed him to be. Having made his own sweet latté and a mocha he walked across to the weapons storage hold that Mira had claimed as her space during the day. Unusually the door was closed. "Mira, can I come it?" the door swiftly opened, then closed behind him.

James handed Mira her favorate drink, a sugared mocha, and joined her in sitting cross legged on the floor

"So did Atton get tired of chasing you? Mira asked with just a little laughter in her voice

"Well at least she's not completely withdrawn or angry at me for acting like a child with Atton for an hour before coming to see her. Of course If I hadn't then I'd probably be so wound up and stressed that I'd be no use at all." "You know Atton" James replied "He's powerful but no stamina" "Oh? I' didn't think that you had such an… intimate… knowledge of him" Mira said with a small mischievous smile on her lips. James decided to play along a little "I don't though its not for lack of trying" Mira giggled.

"Unfortunately" James thought "as much fun as this banter is I am going to have to ask her what happened. Even though our master/apprentice bond is not nearly as developed as mine and Atton's I can still tell something significant has happened. Good or bad she needs the support of her teacher and her friend." "So you were the only one thrown from the ship in the crash?"

Mira's expression darkened but she did not avoid the question. "Yes though I'm not sure how it happened. I regained consciousness in a chasm a little away from the Ebon Hawk. When I felt the rest of the crew were all alive I was about to head back when I felt you entering the Trayus academy, I tried to follow and give you a hand but Hanharr intercepted me on the way." James was currently reciting every curse he'd every learnt in his head "How did that psychopathic killing machine survive?" he thought. "Apparently he doesn't know how to stay dead" he said aloud "I know" his young Jedi Sentinel apprentice replied. "We fought obviously and I won, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here, but at the end…I'd wounded him so severely that he couldn't fight back anymore but it wasn't a killing blow. It wasn't like before with the mines, below the Nar Shaddar docks this time he was begging me to kill him, swearing that if I did not he'd never stop hunting me until I was dead by his hand." James reached out physically to take his friends hand and sent waves of calming energy through their force bond to her. "I didn't know what to do. Every instinct I have was telling me to kill him. Everything you have taught me said to let him live. In the end, I just did what I felt was right. I couldn't kill a helpless opponent, even if it meant that he'd keep hunting me." Mira leaned into his chest and started to cry. James was the only one whom she ever let see beneath her tough attitude heavy bounty hunter exterior and he wasn't going to let her down. "I'm very proud of you Mira" he whispered " No one would have blamed you if you'd killed him. But even though you could have killed him and never let anyone know you still refused harm someone who couldn't fight back. This is why you are a good person, my student, and my friend." The Jedi Exile fell silent as he held the crying bounty hunter. They would remain that way for a long time.

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Ships hulls are: Forward = Front

Aft = Back

Port = Left side

Starboard = Right side

Dorsal = Top

Ventral = Bottom

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	3. Chapter 3 Crew of the Ebon Hawk

I own none of the TV shows, movies, games or books. I'm just borrowing them.

If you want to see the characters in more detail a standard Google image search of their names will do the trick

Links to the armour and weapons pictures are provided at the bottom of the page

I may chop and change between lightsaber, lightstaff and saber in the story. All of my characters use double bladed lightsabers but I think that lightstaff just sounds cooler

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**Chapter 3 Crew of the Ebon Hawk**

**4,000 years ago - Hyperspace**

Jedi Exile James Koren entered the main communal area of the Ebon Hawk and waked up to the holotank in the centre of the room. Made up of a lower waist high circle ~3 meters in diameter and a matching one ~1 foot deep on the ceiling the holotank projected a 3d hologram of whatever was required in the ~2m gap between the two. The downside of the hologram technology was that the image was translucent, usually had horizontal lines running through it and had a blue tinge like looking at the world through a pair of blue lensed sunglasses. "But you cant have everything" James thought "and it's better than a 2d vidscreen any day." Manipulating the controls a hologram of the galaxy just like the one in the cockpit appeared. James stood back and looked around at his travailing companions and, for the most part, friends.

There was Ghoto, a large spherical black and silver droid that floated chest high off the ground. Originally the republic droid intelligence for Citadel Station and the Telos recovery effort Ghoto had decided that working within the law was not enough to save the Republic. Transferring his droid brain to his new intimidating form Ghoto had become one of the most powerful crime lords in the galaxy manipulating the black market and underworld in the Republics favour. Projecting a hologram and using bad holovids clichés as a guide to the personality of a crime lord had been more challenging for him but then ordering executions in the tinny voice of a protocol droid had simply made his victims die of laughter. "Ghoto will have to stay behind" James thought "His programming to save the Republic will not allow him to do anything else. It is a pity, his black market contacts and crime lord resources would have been very helpful in the initial phases."

Mandalore was next around the holotank. Canderous Ordo had travelled with Revan on the quest for the star forge but afterwards had returned to Duxn to become leader of the Mandalorian people and stop them becoming little more than hired thugs. Tall and muscular Mandalore always wore the Mandalore armour. Black and fibrous at the joins with silver durasteel plates and a silver durasteel helmet that had two breathing tubes and a T shaped black visor, it was a very intimidating look which was no doubt the point. "Mandalore has a responsibility to his people, he will not come with me" James decided "Besides Revan has given him orders and he must remain to remake the Mandalorians and to carry them out. It its probably for the best, a vicious warlike people dedicated to nothing but conquering is not the best kind to found a peaceful democratic society."

T3M4 was the squat little astromec droid that had kept the Ebon Hawk running for so long. Having come back to find aid for Revan James knew that he to would have to stay behind, most likely with Mandalore to give Revan a way to signal for help and to guide the full fury of the reformed Mandalorians to whatever target Revan had discovered.

The next one in the circle was the sadistic killing machine known as HK-47. Once Revans personal assassin droid HK-47 had been found dismembered in the Ebon Hawks main storage compartment and quite frankly James sympathized with whomever had done the dismembering. HK was forever asking if he needed anyone killed and stating that his sole purpose In life was to burn holes through any 'meatbags' that James wanted removed from the galaxy. Rusted a blood red and with an stocky armour plated build HK-47 inspired fear in all who were unfortunate enough to meet him. James dearly wished he could leave him behind but one thought as to the devastation THAT would cause was enough to resign him to HK-47's company for the foreseeable future. Of course seeing as HK-47 had the rather nasty habit of accidentally killing his masters that probably wouldn't be to long.

HK-47's main armament was a heavy repeating blaster that had been greatly upgraded to provide maximum power and accuracy. He supplemented this with a plasma projector, a much more powerful version of a flame thrower, built into his right arm and a carbonite projector, commonly known as a 'freeze ray' built into his left. Equipped with a shield to protect him from energy attacks and heavy armour around his critical components HK-47 usually performed as a ranged opponent getting behind cover and letting fly with blasters and grenades.

Atton Rand stood next in the circle, the one James was closest to because of the similar experiences and pain they had suffered and, now that Kreia was gone, also the one he had known the longest. Atton was tall and handsome with dark brown eyes, a swimmers body and dark brown hair that was just long enough to fall into his eyes. Atton was wearing his armour* made up of a black Kevlar body suit to provide protection from projectiles and vibroblades. The Kevlar also had cortosis, the only metal able to resist a lightsaber blade, interwoven with it to provide protection from energy based attacks like blaster fire and lightsabers. A rich gold in colour to reflect his position as a sentinel the durasteel/cortosis alloy armour plates were fixed to the body suit on the front from waste to collarbone, on the outside of the fore and upper arms and on the top 30cm of the back with strips 4cm wide going over both sholders connecting the front and back plates. A silver alloy with a much higher cortosis content wrapped around the rest of the shoulders as a siths favorate tactic was to slice the arms off at the sholders leaving the victim begging for mercy. James actually had the same armour except that in a purely aesthetic choice his armour plates were a deep red instead of gold due to his status as exile and thus, almost sith.

Atton, like all the jedi of the group, was equipped with a Mandalorian power shield that had been heavily modified by Bao Dur. Permanently activated on a feedback loop like lightsabers so they only expended energy when reflecting attacks the shield could go weeks before needing to recharge, the fact that it would last years on anyone except the Ebon Hawks crew or on someone on the front lines of a major war was a tension relieving joke between them. Usually invisible if a high speed threat was aimed at the wearer be it a blaster bolt or a projectile weapon the shield glowed a metallic blue at the point of impact and absorbed the shot. Unfortunately slower moving objects such as lightsabers, vibroblades etc… would not activate the shield which was why the entire group wore armour in addition to the shields. On his left wrist, again as with all jedi members of the group, Atton wore the dull brown wrist launcher that Mira had constructed for him that was capable of launching tranquiliser darts, plasma rockets or a grappling hook and this had saved his life many times over. Atton was the only member of the group apart from James to have mastered the incredibly difficult form VII, Juyo, and this ferocious and powerful attack form was his favoured combat form, though like all the others he was also adept at form III, Soresu, which was a purely defensive form excellent for fighting some one more skilled than you while stalling to allow help to arrive and unsurpassed in allowing the reflection of blaster bolts.

On his belt was clipped Atton's double bladed lightsaber aka a lightstaff**. The lightstaff was as long as his hand and forearm and was Jet black and silver with windows glowing gold when the lightstaff was activated. Though he would never say anything, James felt that it was the best designed, constructed and ascetically pleasing saber he had ever seen apart from his own. As Atton had chosen the path of a Jedi sentinel the lightstaff produced a golden blade. After first meeting Atton when he was locked in a force cage for smuggling on the peragus mining facility the two of them had become inseparable, even if it did take Kreia threatening him into staying until that happened. After their earlier conversation James knew that he could be sure of at least Atton's support.

James looked at his own lightstaff** that Atton had used as a base for his own. Again as long as his hand and forearm, as that was the ideal size for a lightstaff rather than any pre set measurement, it was jet black, and white with the centre section a glowing purple when activated. James had chosen a purple blade when he constructed his new lightsaber for the same reason as he had constructed a double hilt. The old jedi sentinel was dead. He had been betrayed by Revan and by the refusal of the Jedi to defend that which they swore to protect. Rather than recreate his old golden lightsaber his new lightstaff symbolised a new beginning and a promise to never betray those who trusted him as the Jedi and Revan had both done to those who trusted them. To remind himself of this on both sides of the jet black thirds of his saber was engraved the phrase "loyalty unto death". It was engraved in the same jet black material so it was impossible to see unless you were holding the saber, only Atton knew it was there.

Snapping back to reality the Jedi Watchman continued to quickly check the remaining members of the crew gathered around the holotank.

Mira was tall with a gymnasts body and, with her deep red hair just long enough to reach her eyes and her bright green eyes, she had a models looks which, she often stated, had men so entranced it was easy to whack them over the head and capture them. Mira's armour* was the same style as Atton's black and rich gold to mach her saber and announce her status as a jedi sentinel. Mira had initially tried to keep wearing her bounty hunters armour which revealed a lot of flesh in difficult to reach places to provide a distraction as well as protecting the most commonly struck areas. The revelation that all sith assassins were either female or had no sex drive had soon put paid to that idea. Mira's favoured combat form was form V, Shien. This attack form relied on the user to engage the opponent long enough to see their weakest point and then to hit that point repeatedly with the most powerful blows the wielder could muster, the drawback of this form was that a single opponent could force you to fight hard before the user had identified their weak point. For Mira this disadvantage was offset by the fact that the form was second only to Soresu in blaster bolt deflection and performed well against multiple enemies, a skill she wryly stated was essential when travelling with him.

Mira's lightstaff ** Jet black, grey, white and gold the blades were a brilliant golden colour to announce her class as a jedi sentinel. "I don't know what Mira will do" James thought "She will defiantly want to continue her jedi training but her tracking skills as a bounty hunter will allow her to find another teacher if she wants. She has no family to tie her here as she was a Mandalorian slave but then she doesn't like to kill her targets, and unfortunately when travelling with me killing people is kind of a prerequisite as so many people try to kill me. I hope she stays but I don't know if she will."

Brianna stood next to Mira. For almost the entire journey James had known her only as the handmaiden, servant of Atris and her spy and weapon to be used against him. After Atris fell to the dark side and her sisters attacked her forcing Brianna to kill them she had shed the mantle of the Handmaiden and taken the name that she had not used for so long. As an Echani she was tall and athletic as typical of that people, her face showed a delicate beauty that hid her fierce warrior skills, her eyes an icy blue and her hair was cropped short with two braids similar to those of jedi padawans at her temples. She stood in her armour, which was the same style as Atton's and the others, but the plates were coloured a brilliant white in homage to her mother, a jedi who died in the Mandalorian wars and wore brilliant white robes. She had first tried to wear the robes but had discovered that, while they were fine for everyday wear and short infrequent battles, at the rate that trouble found the Ebon Hawk and her passengers armour was a better choice. As an Echani Brianna had trained to be very flexible, fast and difficult to hit and as such she used form IV, Ataru as her combat form. Based on the principle of death by a thousand cuts Ataru relied on the user to constantly manuver out of the way of the opponents blows so that they did not have to defend. This left the user free to unleash a hail of blows that, while relatively weak, came so fast and from so many different directions that the opponent would be overwhelmed and slip up allowing attacks through their defences. The main drawbacks of this form was that it performed poorly against multiple enemies and blaster shots, though in Brianna's mind these were offset by its success rate against singe opponents.

Like all the jedi on board she had her lightstaff clipped to her belt. Brianna's lightstaff** was grey, black and gold and projected brilliant silver blades, Brianna had chosen it to match her robes and honour her mother rather than using the traditional blue blade of her class as a jedi guardian. "Brianna has taken the fall of Atris and the betrayal of her sisters hard and is more devoted to me than ever" James thought "She will most likely follow me into the unknown regions as there is nothing left for her here and she longs to leave her past as the servant of Atris behind."

Mical stood silently gazing at the galactic map and looking puzzled at their heading into the unknown regions. Tall and classically handsome he had blue eyes and long blond hair that was swept back, although when it fell out of place in battle it ended at his jaw, Mical was wearing his armour* which was the same style as Atton's and the others but it was coloured a calming green as he was a jedi consular and felt that negotiation should always be the first resort and violence the last, the journey since Dantooine had taught him that sadly violence was quite often necessary as the only thing bullies and assassins responded to was force. Once Mical had, reluctantly understood and accepted this he had, with a ironic grin on his face, taken to terming battle 'aggressive negotiations'. Mical had, in true consular style, chosen form VI, Niman, as his combat form. Known as the diplomats form this form performed in an average manner across the board having none of the other forms special bonuses, of course the other side of the coin was that the form also had none of their drawbacks. Niman was essentially Soresu that had sacrificed some of its formidable defensive ability to allow efficient attacking. As he aimed to avoid combat as much as possible the average performance of this form in all conditions did not overly concern him, indeed it meant that he alone of the group did not have to know Soresu allowing him to focus on his historical, diplomatic and force based studies rather than constantly practice two combat forms like the others.

Mical's lightstaff** hung from his belt. Jet black and silver with windows glowing green when activated the blades were a bright green as befitting Mical's status as a consular. "He will be hardest of all to convince" James thought "He is as dedicated to the Republic as I am and has served them as a trouble shooter and historian for many years before he joined the Ebon Hawk because he recognised me as one of his old teachers, the one he wanted above all others to be his master. I hope that I can convince him to come with me, I will have a much better chance of success with his formidable diplomatic abilities and job as an *ANOYING* walking talking group conscience on my side. Still if he decides to leave I won't hold it against him, it took Malachor to convince me of the Republics corruption and eventual fall and I doubt I am as persuasive."

Visas Marr stood in the shadows to his left. The blind mirraluka had been the only survivor of her world when it was destroyed by Darth Nihius using the last Council of the Jedi to feed his hunger. Nihius had taken Visas as his apprentice after turning her to the dark side by forcing her to feel the pain and terror of her worlds destruction. Sent to assassinate him Visas had become his loyal friend when James refused to kill her after defeating her in battle. After all the struggles on the journey James had finally managed to help her make peace with her worlds destruction and follow the light side path of the jedi sentinel she was meant to be. Of average height with soft features she wore a crimson hood with embroidered gold edges and a veil ending at her cheekbones to hide the empty eye sockets that were the distinguishing feature of her race. She was dressed in a loose robe and gauntlets of the same crimson and gold material. Over the top of this she wore a sleeveless form fitting black leather robe with splits in the sides to allow her to run and fight. Quite how such a robe dissipated energy attacks was a secret known only to the mirraluka though it did leave her vulnerable to physical attacks. Visas still used the combat form she had learned as Darth Nihus's apprentice, form II, Maakashi. This form was excellent against a lightsaber wielding opponent but performed very poorly against blasters, as she had been trained as a sith assassin this drawback had not been much of a problem for her. After the first few weeks with him Visas had quickly learnt Soresu to defend herself from the large groups that had STILL not got it through their brains that attacking a jedi with a blaster was not a good idea.

Visas's lightstaff** hung from her belt, she had chosen bronze blades and a classical sith style of construction to remind herself of how her life had been as a servant of the dark side and how little she wanted to go back to it. Black white and gold the blades were a brilliant orange. "Visas will follow me" James thought "Even know when I hope she sees herself as an equal and friend she still greets me with "my life for yours". It would be more difficult to stop her coming, especially since I helped her to kill her old master Darth Nihius."

The last member of the crew was Bao Dur. An Irridonian Bao Dur was of average height and very muscular. His left arm had been severed above the elbow during the Massacre at Malachor V, the last battle of the Mandalorian wars where James himself had ordered the use of the super weapon he had designed, the mass shadow generator. Bao Dur's left arm now consisted of a mechanical hand and wrist joined to the mechanical half of his upper arm by a beam of pure energy. This was very useful as it could overload any shield that it came in contact with including force cages, useful considering how many times they got captured. Bao Dur had grey skin and short horns instead of hair*** and zigzag patterns on his body. He wore armour slightly different to the Atton's and the others as although the black Kevlar part was the same the durasteel/cortosis plates had been removed. This had been done because he was the best technician and engineer in the galaxy which Unfortunately meant a lot of fitting into awkward spaces that the armour plates would just not allow him to do so he traded the greater protection for more freedom of movement meaning he wouldn't have to keep clambering in and out of the dam thing. Bao Dur used form I, Shii-cho, as his combat form. This form, like Niman, had no specific drawbacks, rather it was specialised to fight against multiple opponents which Bao Dur believed was desperately needed given his experiences in the Mandalorian wars when he had always been outnumbered.

On his belt was Bao Dur's lightstaff**. Despite being a jedi guardian Bao Dur had decided to use bronze blades to remind himself that the anger he still carried from the Mandalorian wars was dangerous and that he should not let it overwhelm him. The lightstaff itself was silver, white, black and gold. "I don't know if Bao Dur will come with me" James thought to himself "He wishes to stay with me as we went through the Mandalorian wars together and he feels that he still needs my guidance and needs to atone for the damage he caused in the war. Of course that is exactly why he might stay, hoping to heal some of the damage. But I will be attempting to build a government from scratch, that may appeal to him as he likes to build things."

Glancing around once more Jedi Watchman James Koren took a deep breath and began to speak.

* * *

* The armour mod creator and screenshots of the armour can be found at this address.

Http:// knightsoftheoldrepublic dot /screenshots/File/73543/5

**The saber mod creator and pictures of the double bladed sabers can be found at this address. From left to right they are… unused, Visas Marr, Bao Dur, Mical, James Koren, Mira, Atton Rand, unused, Brianna

Http:// knightsoftheoldrepublic dot /screenshots/File/72788/

*** Darth Maul was an irridoinan who had tattooed the zigzag patterns on his face.

Reviewing takes 30 seconds. Please do so, I like to get conformation that people are actually reading this and I'm not just writing to myself


	4. Chapter 4 Discussions and Decisions

I own none of the TV shows, movies, games or books. I'm just borrowing them.

Ok some people have complained about the descriptive nature of the last chapter. My response is that some Stargate and star wars fans might not have played the KOTOR games and as these are the main characters I felt it best to cover the bases. For those of you that have you should have taken away that they are all equipped with a Goa'uld style personal shield, all have wrist launchers, all wear armour and all use lightstaffs. I chose all lightstaffs because they have, "more slaughter per swing" – Atton Rand, which is something you defiantly need when fighting off sith assassins who outnumber you three to one and they will also make close combat with Jaffa easer. There wont be another chapter like that though so don't get to stressed.

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Discussions and Decisions**

**4,000 years ago – Hyperspace**

The crew of the Ebon Hawk was gathered around the holotank waiting to hear what their leader was going to do next.

James Koren began to quickly summarise his time on Malachor V from finding his way across the barren surface and fighting through every living thing in the Trayus Academy until he met Darth Sion.

"Oh great sleeps with vibroblades was there?" That of course was Atton who had first met Darth Sion in person on the Harbinger and barely escaped.

"Unfortunately" James replied "His command of the dark side was enviable. No matter what wound I inflicted upon him he simply regenerated it, I couldn't kill him."

"How then did you survive" Visas's soft voice spoke from the corner "A sith lord is not one who would show mercy, nor allow their victim to escape"

What he was about to do almost caused James physical pain "It is in fact HK-47 that we have to thank for the defeat of Darth Sion" That got many surprised looks but they remained silent waiting for him to continue. "HK-47 had pointed out to me, when boasting of his methods of killing Jedi, that a force users power flowed from strength of their beliefs. Make a jedi doubt the jedi code and their power weakens, so I started talking to Sion every time I killed him, asking why he chose to live in constant pain, how the dark side was simply torturing him not making him immortal. The constant battering of his beliefs and the difficulty of putting himself back together when I killed him for the 12th or so time finally took its toll. He couldn't heal himself any more and gave up."

"No way." That was Atton again "You actually talked a Sith Lord to death?!!"

James threw this lightstaff at him and grinned when it bounced off Atton's head "Hey it worked didn't it? Sions dead and I'm still here."

"Excited Statement: Master I am so pleased that you actually listened to me and put aside your fatal flaw of compassion. Such an calm analysis and ruthless exploitation of doubt is worthy of a droid!"

James decided not to dignify that with a response. "Anyway after Sion was gone the heart of the Trayus Academy, where you found me, was unguarded so I entered and found Kreia" The expressions around the room turned dark and it could not be clearer that they were all wishing that they could have been their to cause actual bodily harm to the dark jedi. "After the usual pre fight taunting we battled and I was able to defeat her even after she sent three floating lightsabers at me, and let me tell you that was a new one. After the battle she was wounded but the wound was not immediately fatal and so she used the power of the academy to enhance her ability to see the future and told me many things."

"Why would she do such a thing?" Mical exclaimed

"I had defeated her in battle" James replied "You are forgetting the ancient manner of the sith. The battle of Master and Apprentice, two shall enter, one shall leave. I had defeated her and, in her eyes proved that I was the master now."

"More likely she was lying to get you to destroy yourself" Brianna had always had deep dislike of Kreia

"Believe me I had thought of that but she couldn't have lied. After our battle she had virtually no power left, what little she did have she was using to keep herself alive and peer into the future, their was none left to shield herself with, I would have been able to tell instantly if she was lying"

"Maybe that is what she wanted you to believe" Bao Dur's deep melodious tones came from next to him "She had more power left than you thought and was simply creating and illusion so you would trust her words"

"I don't think so" James replied "If she had done that I would have been unable to tell if she was lying and I did catch her out in one lie. She wanted me to leave all of you behind. She wanted me to believe that you would all weaken me for the journey ahead."

"Well it's a good thing you didn't fall for that" Atton exclaimed tossing James's lightstaff back to him "After all how could I, could any of us, weaken you, were just to good" that brought a round of smiles

"Well you could simply annoy me to death" that brought full out laughter from Brianna and Bao Dur and the rest soon succumbed

After everyone had calmed back down Mical leaned forward and asked "So now that we all believe that you would have known if Kreia was lying to you what did she say?"

"Some small bits and pieces but three that are important to what I have decided to do next" James replied. The crew looked curious and leaned closer, Visas moved away from the corner and came to stand at the holotank. "The first and most important is that we did it, the sith are broken and the Republic is saved for now." Mira, Atton and Bao Dur broke out in cheers but Mical's voice, quick and authoritative, cut across them "For now?" "Kreia showed me the downfall of the Republic, 4,000 years from now the Republic will cease to be and in its place shall stand the First Galactic Empire" Everyone was now subdued and shocked, for better or worse the Republic had been a fixture of the galaxy for 15,000 years, to hear that it had gone was very unnerving.

"How did it happen" Mira whispered

"The Sith are cunning" James replied just as Kreia had to him "3,000 years from now they will go into hiding and the Jedi will become weak and stagnant but proud of this. When the Sith corrupt the senate from within, when the Republic weakens they will dismiss the signs, when the Republic enters its death throws they will pin their hopes on a small boy, a chosen one, for none of them are powerful enough to stand against the Sith any longer. He will be found on the outer rim and brought to the temple but the Jedi have become flawed. The arrogance and blindness of Kavar, Zez Ki El and Vrook is nothing compared to the council that will preside over the death of the Republic they swore to protect. Placed under so much pressure and with nothing but hypocritical teachings as his guide the Sith find him easy prey, the jedi are destroyed and the Republic is reorganised into the First Galactic Empire. And that is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause."

Around the holotank on the faces of his companions James saw his own feelings mirrored, disgust that the senate and Republic in general had grown so corrupt that this was allowed to happen, disbelief that the Jedi Order could become more complacent and arrogant than it already was and anger at the Jedi for yet again refusing to carry out their responsibilities and instead place all of their hopes onto one small boy so they could avoid facing their own failings.

"Surely" Mical asked, his tone almost pleading "There will be those that fight, that rebel, to keep the principles of the Republic intact?"

"He is so much like me when it comes to the Republic" James thought. Now unfortunately I must crush his hopes, as Kreia did mine. "There are" James replied "and they succeed in killing the sith lord that is Emperor and liberating most of the worlds of the Empire. But the galaxy is left weak and fractured by the civil war and many sectors, now wary of large powers due to the authoritarianism of the Republic in its final decades and the dictatorship of the Empire, decide to strike out on their own, warlords carve out their own territories and the Imperial Remnant holds onto all the territory it can. The New Republic is the largest and most powerful of the factions but it is still a mere shadow of the government that spans the galaxy today. Then with the galaxy divided, distracted, a new enemy strikes. I have felt it, just as Revan did, and I know that through our force bonds you can feel a faint echo of it to, the enemy that lies in the dark between the galaxies. They arrive in the dying days of the Republic and they are patient, they wait until the galaxy is at its weakest and strike. The major powers of the Galaxy hold to much hatred for each other and arrogance in their own superiority to put up a unified front and the New Republic and its rival states are destroyed. Further than this Kreia could not see, the enemy is like an absence in the force and they hid the fate of the galaxy from her. She feared that their victory was total and that from then on the galaxy will know only pain and unfortunately I share that fear."

All around his companions were devastated, Mical looked as though he may collapse at any second and was gripping the holotank for support.

"What was the third thing?" Mandalore asked "you said there were three things and this little revelation of the Republics fate is only two, what was the third?"

"The third is a little piece of information she gave me knowing that I would probably get myself killed when I tried to act on it" James stated " I will tell you but you must all remain silent. After I have told you and what I have decided to do I want you to all go and think long and hard, I would like you to come with me but I will not think any less of you if you do not, especially given the virtual certainty of death and miniscule chance of success." All of his companions aside from Atton looked apprehensive now. "Kreia said, and its fate supports her statement, that the Republic that survives to that era cannot be fixed. It has quite simply become rotten to the core. Even if we somehow save it from the fate she predicted it will not last much longer. But there is hope for the civilisation that I, that we, dream of." Mandalore snorted at this no doubt thinking that the civilisation he dreamed off was radically different to that of everybody else with the possible exception of HK-47. "What we love is not the Republic itself but the principals on which it was founded. Deep In the unknown regions, on a planet known as Arnessk there is a race that thinks as we do and is already so very close to founding a Republic like society and for this very reason the Sith are about to strike them down. If we save them they can create the Second Galactic Republic in the unknown regions, one that is free of corruption, free of the Jedi hypocrisy and that will live past the first republics fall, that will remain strong to meet the enemy that lies in the dark.

Shock, disbelief and scepticism filled the faces of his companions "who" James thought "are no doubt wondering if I am still sane." Aloud he said "Mandalore, Ghoto, HK-47 and T3-M4, remain behind please. I would like for the rest of you would think long and hard before making your decision, especially if it is to come with me. The only things that I will say to convince you are these. One I am committed to this course even if no one else comes with me and Two, never believe that a small group of dedicated people cannot change the universe, for that's all who ever have."

As the others moved swiftly back to their own areas Ghoto spoke up "I cannot go with you on this foolish endeavour. I must save the Republic, I thank you for the information on its fall as it will allow me to begin to plan how to save it. That is why I will not stop you from leaving, though it is a great pity, a rallying figurehead could do much to restore stability to the galaxy right now." Ghoto floated off into the corner to run long term projections and plan.

"I wish him well" James thought "But I do not expect him to succeed any more than he does me" he turned to Mandalore "Don't worry my friend I do not expect you to come with me. I know that your place is here with your people, that you need to gather them and re forge them into something other than the hired thugs the have become." "I won't tell him that the Mandalorians will never fully rise again," he thought "that they will simply die a slow lingering death until only one remains, and then none. His help on this journey has earned him that at least"

"You've got that right" Mandalore replied "besides creating a peaceful society? I'd go mad after the first month"

James smiled "I will ask one more thing of you. Revan left you orders and now so shall I if you chose to follow them. I will leave T3-M4 with you and when Revan contacts him you can bring the full power of the Mandalorian Clans down on whatever target he has found that is a danger to the Republic"

"Alright" Mandalore stated "Any foe that Revan needs help destroying will be a powerful one indeed, and to fight beside him once more, that will be a conflict truly worthy of a Mandalorian. I will do as you ask." With that he turned and walked back to the computer on the other side of the room, no doubt thinking of new ways to train the clans, how to get more equipment and how to track down the remaining Mandalorians that had fallen from the path. T3-M4 trundled after him bleeping his thanks for giving him the help that he had come back to find for his master.

"HK-47" James said "You are coming with me simply because I don't want the devastation you will cause if I leave you behind on my conscience"

"Irritated Statement: Very well master if you still wish to cling to your unfortunate regard for life and prevent me from fulfilling my primary function to burn holes through meatbags I will have to acquiesce. Hopeful Query: do you think that the course of action you have chosen will result in even more meatbags attempting to kill you master?"

"I hope not but probably HK" James replied wearily

"Excited Exclamation: Excellent master! I look forward to the next fire fight when I can remove many more irritating meatbags from the galaxy."

With everyone else pondering their next move James Koren headed to the cockpit to play pazzak with Atton. "Maybe he'll actually let me win this time" He thought.

* * *

**Ebon Hawk - Storage Closet**

Once again Mira and James were sitting cross legged on the floor facing each other in the storage closet that she had chosen as her space aboard the Ebon Hawk

"You know you are completely insane for even considering this right?" Mira asked "I mean we have no idea what these people are like, how they will react to us just turning up and saying they are about to come under attack, what their military capabilities are, I mean the list is endless"

"I know" James replied

Mira sighed, "I'm not going to get any more out of you am I?"

"It has to be your decision" James explained "I cannot make it for you"

Mira sat and thought. "There is nothing left for me here. The only thing I've been since the end of the Mandalorian wars is tired and afraid, always running and never finding what I am looking for. The only time I've felt safe and happy is when I'm here on the Ebon Hawk learning the ways of the force, I could find another teacher but they would teach me to be a true jedi with all the hypocrisy and arrogance that goes with it. James has taught me a lot and makes me feel safe and secure, if he's going to do this then, no matter what our chances of success, I will go with him. Its better to live a few years feeling proud of what you are trying to do than a lifetime scared and hunted.

"I'm coming with you" Mira said

James smiled

* * *

**Ebon Hawk - Cargo Hold**

Brianna blocked the blow from James's lightstaff that would have decapitated her and followed up with a strike of her own at his legs that he managed to deflect. Thankfully the lightstaffs were set to training mode as she was fighting on auto pilot while inwardly she carefully weighed her decision. "All my life I have been the outsider" she thought "I honour the face of my mother setting me apart from my half sisters, I was always the last of the handmaidens when we fought except for the final battle, I was the only one interested in the Jedi teachings, the only one who questioned Atris. Here I am part of the crew, part of the family, James is teaching me the ways of the force, not the jedi, allowing me to train without breaking my oath, I am not the weakest among us as we all have special strengths as well as our weaknesses, I am happier here than I have ever been. Besides what remains here for me? My sisters tried to kill me and are dead by my own hand, Atris, the wise jedi master that I trusted has fallen to the dark side and been sent into exile, my father and mother are long dead. Even if we do not last the month I think that I will be happier here rather than spending an entire lifetime alone if I remain behind."

Snapping back to reality she quickly unleashed as many blows as possible as her Ataru form dictated. Caught off guard by her sudden switch of focus from inward discussion to fighting one of her blows slipped through and caught James on the leg, with his manuverablility impaired another strike caught his left arm leaving it numb below the elbow before Brianna finished up with a slash across his waist that would have cut him in half had the lightstaff been on full power.

"I'm coming with you" Brianna said to James with one of her brilliant silver blades at his throat

Still in shock James could only nod

* * *

**Ebon Hawk – Weapons Bay**

Among the spare armour, blasters, grenades, shields, gloves, visors and belts that they had accumulated on their journey James Koren sat on one of the forward wings of his swoop bike. On the other side of the room next to HK-47, who had been ordered not to do anything under any circumstances, Bao Dur stood at the workbench modifying another Mandalorian power shield on the theory it's best to have multiple spares of everything.

"I like fixing things" Bao Dur said softly "Life is so much simple when your fixing things don't you agree General? After all that's what your trying to do, your simply doing it on a scale that I never imagined" former Jedi General James Koren simply sat and said nothing as Bao Dur went back to work.

Inwardly Bao Dur was uncertain "I have so much to make up for after Malachor, can I really leave the known systems behind? Czerca has been expelled from Telos thanks to the General but they are still harming thousands of other worlds and my planetary shield generator designs, after the war not many systems had the credits to pay for them but now can I leave them behind? Not offer them the protection I can give? On the other hand there are many planetary shield generator designs not including my own and I tried to fight Czerca on Telos and achieved nothing. Only when travelling with the General have I had any success in changing things, in making up, in some small part, for my past. Working on my own brought nothing but frustration and anger. My anger is something else to think about, under the Generals guidance it has almost disappeared but I fear that if I stay behind it will grow and fester until I become that which I despise.

"Once, on Nar Shaddar you said to let you know if I saw the wires and parts of the galaxy that needed fixing." Bao Dur said while turning around to face the General "I have found one General, I will come with you"

James reached out and placed a hand on Bao Dur's shoulder "I will try not to let you down my friend"

* * *

**Ebon Hawk – Port Sleeping Quarters**

Visas Mar sensed James walk up behind her "I do not know why you even need to ask my friend" she said "I owe you everything. You have freed me from the sith, helped me to be at peace with Katars destruction and restored my sight. Only a true friend would do these things and that is why I say my life for yours. I will accompany you wherever you walk."

Gratefully James took her hand. "There may be a time when you cannot come with me, but that is not today. I'm glad you wish to accompany me."

* * *

**Ebon Hawk – Medical Bay**

James sat on the diagnostic bed with his back against the wall and his knees up to his chest. To his left Mical was leaning back against the lab station with one hand on either side to brace himself.

"You realise what you are asking me to do don't you?" Mical said "All my life has been spent in service of the Republic, from my childhood as a Jedi Youngling to my adult life as a Republic scientist, historian and trouble shooter and now you want me to abandon it?"

"We have saved the Republic" James replied "You know how much I have loved and fought for it and we have given it enough strength to last another 4,000 years. But look at it and tell me that you believe in what it will be by the end of that time. You can see the corruption that festers in the heart of the Republic as well as I can. Both of us had hoped that this crisis of Exar Kun, the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War would have knocked it out of its complacency but it still carries on as before. You alone have enough meditation skill for me to show you the vision of the future that Kreia showed me, tell me you still believe that that Republic can be saved? That it can be fixed?"

As much as he wished to Mical could not. The Republic of the future had passed the point of no return, the corruption had destroyed its heart, its jedi guardians had grown pitifully weak, the few humanitarian senators were outnumbered in the thousands by those that greeted the death of liberty with thunderous applause and the Republic itself had become almost an empire in fact long before then as Coruscant tightened its grip on the member worlds with each passing year. Mical remained silent.

"We have done as much as we can for the Republic" James said "And we have seen that it will eventually fall no matter what we do. Here, now we have a chance to try and create something that will take its place when it falls, a chance to ensure that democracy, the government by the people, for the people, does not perish from the galaxy. Will you help me?"

As a lifetimes belief and training came crashing down around him Mical could only nod with tears in his eyes.

* * *

**Ebon Hawk – Cockpit**

"So are we in business?" Atton asked as James walked into the cockpit and took the co-pilots seat.

"If by that you mean are they coming with us then yes, all of them except Mandalore, Ghoto and T3-M4 who we did not expect to anyway." James replied

"See?" Atton asked smugly "Even becoming clinically insane doesn't get rid of us."

James grinned "Oh shut up" he said good naturedly "and alter our course to Cerea, we need to drop those three off before we head to Arnessk.

"It shall be done O'fearless leader" Atton teased as he put in the coordinates

* * *

I have placed Arnessk in the Inner Rim close to the Inner Rim/Expansion Region boundary on a straight line between Lwheek in the Ssi-Ruuk Star Cluster and Galantos in the Koornacht Cluster

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	5. Chapter 5 The Great Rebellion

Ok here's the first Stargate chapter so I hope you all enjoy it

I own none of the TV, movies, books or games mentioned

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**Chapter 5 The Great Rebellion**

**4,000 years ago – Egypt**

Supreme System Lord Ra was having a bad day. This was not particularly unusual for him as as the Supreme System Lord he had to constantly watch the System Lords as they jockeyed for position amongst each other, each seeking just enough advantage to be able to depose him and take the position of Supreme System Lord. Ra had held that title since the Goa'uld had first come to earth and started to take human hosts instead of their previous Unas ones, a measure Ra was most pleased with whenever he looked in the mirror and saw a beautiful bronze skinned male body in its twenties rather than something that he would have described, had he read Lord of the Rings, as a cross between an Ork and a Cave Troll. The simplicity of his host body also appealed to him allowing him to repair most damage, be immune to almost all poisons, increase strength and speed and extend the lifespan to two hundred years before even contemplating using the healing had device or the sarcophagus that his brother Tel'Chak had managed to create.

In any case Ra was having a bad day and this one was worse than most. It was not the fact that what was left of the shattered mind of his host was taking great pleasure in pointing out to him how bad a day he was having but rather that the most important world in his domain, the one that had allowed him to force the System Lord Collective to bow to him as its supreme leader, was in rebellion. Again.

Earth had more population of the useful human slaves than any other place in the galaxy, which was unsurprising as the planet was the humans home world, and despite allowing the System Lords to, at a very hefty fee, have some areas where the people could worship them, the entire world was in his domain and the majority ruled from his palace/battleship on its landing pad in the land of the Pharaohs. A pad that would eventually be known as the Great Pyramid of Giza. This massive population advantage over his fellow system lords was the largest advantage in his arsenal and had allowed him to win all the wars that he had forgot to gain his position, and keep it, by simply making the war one of attrition where he could out build, out fight and, in true Russian style, out sacrifice his opponents. This was why when several of the temples that doubled as military outposts for his Jaffa, genetically altered humans ideal for combat and incubating larval Goa'uld, had come under attack he had immediately issued orders that the Jaffa were to kill everyone in the rebelling areas as a lesson to all that would defy their God. That is when things began to go downhill fast.

If Supreme System Lord Ra was having a bad day his First Prime was having a worse one. As the leader of his gods military forces Rak'nor had ordered the Jaffa in the rebelling areas to kill everything that moved and shoot anything that didn't just to be sure. Unfortunately this had not gone according to plan which was why he was currently on one knee in front of his god wondering if he would be able to make it out of this room alive. "My lord" he said

Ra was unnerved although he would never show it. His First Prime was always a little less deferential than he would like but he overlooked it because his skill on the battlefield was unmatched, as evidenced by his defeat of the System Lady Egeria several decades before. Ra quickly thought back to that time, the last time that he felt that his rule was seriously threatened, when the System Lady had gone insane. She allowed the new host she had just taken control! Sharing the body with her as if she were a Goa'uld's equal rather than pitiful cattle fit only to serve her divine presence as hosts or slaves and rather than demand that her slaves worship her she ruled them as a mortal, allowing them unprecedented freedoms and she even paid them for working for her and did not demand tribute! Madness! Although that thing that she had invented called tix, tracs, no tax that was it, demanded some looking into, yes at least there she was acting in a truly Goa'uld manner. It was a pity that she had evaded capture when her forces were finally defeated but Ra had posted large bounties and send multiple ashrack after her so it was only a matter of time until she was brought before him and he could remind her that they were gods, and all who defied the great god Ra would suffer eternally. Snapping back to the present he noticed apprehensively that his first prime was down on one knee with his forehead almost touching the floor. "This is not going to be good" the snake like parasite thought, unconsciously wrapping tighter around his hosts spinal column "The only time he grovels this much is when something has gone seriously wrong." "Speak" he said aloud

"My Lord" Rak'nor said "after the Jaffa patrols disappeared and the outer areas of the land of the pharaohs was known to be in rebellion the orders were issued to kill everything in the rebelling areas…

* * *

**12 hours previously – Jaffa Mid Range Garrison**

The garrison leader in his Anubis headed armour deployed his helmet and inspected his fellow Jaffa. All had their Horus style helmets deployed and held their staff weapon in their hands with a Zat'nik'atel and several shock grenades on their waists. The main weapon of a Jaffa the staff weapon was two meters long with bulges at both ends and a smaller one in the middle. The bottom bulge was a counter weight to allow the staff to be used effectively as a mêlée staff, the middle bulge was the trigger and the closed bud shaped bulge at the top opened when activated and shot a golden bolt of energy at the target. Horrendously inaccurate and with an appalling rate of fire the staff weapon was a weapon of intimidation not war but it performed it's duties adequately enough against similarly equipped troops and as the Goa'uld dominated the vast majority of the galaxy and all the Goa'uld used staff weapons this was not a problem. The backup weapon of the Jaffa was the Zat'nik'atel. A hand held weapon it was vaguely reminiscent of a cobra waiting to strike. Firing a charge of indigo lightning at the target the first shot would cause considerable pain or render the target unconscious for several hours depending on the setting, a second shot within a ~5-10 minuet period would kill the target, and as an interesting side effect would render them unable to be resurrected with a sarcophagus, and third shot would cause the target to disintegrate though this only worked on organics so you couldn't disintegrate barricades, doors or walls with it. The final item, the shock grenade was a metallic purple ball When it went off it produced a white light that rendered everyone in proximity unconscious for several hours and when they did wake up they would be blind and deaf for several minuets. Satisfied that his Jaffa were all properly armed and that their metal and chain mail armour was all in place the leader formed the Jaffa into a column and lead them out of the temple and set off for the nearest village.

Marching across the dessert the Jaffa column was 6 Jaffa across and 50 long making the garrison one of the largest at 300 Jaffa and more than enough to annihilate a few villages that were, at best, armed with short swords and primitive bows that would not even piece the Jaffa's armour even without the range difference. "The fools commanding the outer garrisons will suffer eternally for failing their god so badly" The commander thought "I will remind this pitiful gathering of cattle that Ra is their god and he does not tolerate such insults" Ironically that was the last thought he ever had as that moment a golden staff blast took off his head.

Kuffu, leader of the rebel forces that had lain in wait along the path between the garrison and the nearest village surveyed the area around him with great pleasure. As had been predicted when his fellow rebels had overwhelmed the outer garrisons the false god Ra had assumed that they had done so using only the primitive weaponry that they had developed when he had arrived and shear numbers. Believing that such a victory would have completely decimated the rebels numbers he had sent out the larger mid range garrisons individually to punish the villages rather than massing them into one army and pulling them back to the Pyramids where they could make short work of any attacking rebels with the benefit of entrenchment and the fixed defences. This would have been a sound plan and would have crushed any thought of rebellion for decades were it not for one small thing. For several years the humans in Ra's domain had been stockpiling staff weapons, zat'nik'atels and shock grenades in several caches around the land of the pharaohs and the time had finally come to use them. With the same weapons as the Jaffa and the element of surprise small groups of 20 rebels managed to conduct simultaneous, or near enough considering the instructions were first light, strikes against the outer garrisons that typically only contained 80 Jaffa and had, with liberal use of the majority of the rebels shock grenades, overwhelmed them before they managed to get a message out warning about how well armed the rebels were. While this was going on the main rebel force had spilt itself into groups ~200 strong and lain in wait along the most direct routs between the mid range garrisons and the nearest villages.

Covering themselves with a sand coloured cloak Kuffu's group had buried themselves in ambush position the night before and the nightly winds had erased their tracks and further camouflaged them. When the Jaffa column marched passed they were commendably alert but there were no tracks left to see which was why they were taken completely by surprise when a staff weapon discharged. This surprise lead to mounting horror as the rebels, alerted by the sound of the staff weapon, leaped up and threw the 20 shock grenades they had straight into the column and then followed up with as many staff blasts and zat'nik'atel shots as they could fire. Caught in a close formation the shock grenades took out half the Jaffa before they even knew they were under attack , to their credit the remainder recovered quickly and fired back but the grenades and the first volley of the rebels fire had destroyed any chance they had of winning. Reduced to a few scattered pockets, with no cover and being assaulted from both sides the garrison was annihilated to the last man.

* * *

**Ra's Command Ship Pel'tak**

... and that my lord is how the rebels have managed to annihilate almost all the mid range garrisons. Those few that did escape or destroy the ambushes have suffered heavy losses and are retreating to this landing complex to regroup."

Ra was about to release his full fury on his incompetent First Prime that had allowed such a travesty as cattle using **his** divine weapons and defeating **his** holy warriors. I AM A GOD! He raged inside his mind THE CATTLE WILL SUFFER ETERNALY FOR DEFYING MY DEVINE WILL AND THE HERASY OF USING MY OWN WEAPONS IS UNHEARD OF! Just as he was about to unleash his full rage on his Fist Prime his command ship shook to the sound of an explosion.

* * *

**Ra's Command Ship, Lower Decks**

The Rebel leaders knew that even if they managed to successfully destroy the outer and mid range garrisons with minimal losses Ra's garrison force would still be almost two thirds their size. As the Jaffa would have much more experience of large scale battle, battle manuvers were a bit hard to practice unnoticed after all, and would have the benefit of entrenchment, the fixed defences and air support from the udajeet fighters and Al-Kesh bombers that Ra would surely launch a direct attack was suicide. This was why the best fighters that the rebels had had entered the landing complex with weapons including the rebels biggest prize, a staff cannon, disguised as tribute to Ra. Now that the main rebel force had assembled outside the landing zone they used the staff cannon to blow open one of the access points inside the pyramid landing pad and gain entry into Ra's command ship.

Fortunately for the rebel strike team the Jaffa were so stunned when they blew their way into the ship by the time that they got security teams to the breach the rebels were long gone. Advancing quickly down the corridors keeping out of sight the team followed the route that they had long ago memorised. How the rebel leaders had gained a plan of the false gods ship they did not know but what mattered was that it was correct. His small team finally met resistance near their destination as a security team of six Jaffa appeared around the corner and were quickly felled and disintegrated. Hoping that the sound had gone unnoticed they proceeded into the room that the entire plan hinged on. Already their presence aboard the ship had been detected if not their exact location and in true Goa'uld fashion Ra had ordered the vast majority of the defenders back to his command ship to protect him and sweep the ship deck by deck until those who had dared to defile their gods holy sanctuary were brought before him so they could pay. He was unconcered with the pitifully weak perimeter left behind as at the first sign of the heretics his udajeet and Al-Kesh would launch and destroy them

The rebel strike team knew that their survival was unlikely in the extreme and this thought was confirmed as having reached the area they wished to be in Jaffa started pouring through the main doors. The commander and his team kept up a volley of staff blasts at the door as the final member searched for their target. Despite the withering fire the Jaffa, safely secure in the knowledge that the great god Ra would welcome them in the afterlife for serving him well and dying in his name, stormed through the door and were cut down in droves. Unfortunately some managed to get a shot off before they were killed and some actually hit the rebel team who didn't have many members to lose. As the team died, felled by the shear numbers of Jaffa they shielded the most important member of the team who had finally found the target was aiming the staff cannon. Right as he was hit in the chest by three staff blasts the commander saw the staff cannon fire before its wielder was hit as well. He died with a smile on his face as he watched the cannon blast hit the liquid naquada being loaded into the Al-Kesh to power their bombs causing an explosion that vaporized the hanger bay and the twelve sections around it as well.

As soon as the fireball exploded out of the side of the false gods ship the rebels swarmed the outer perimeter.

* * *

**Ra's Command Ship, Pel'tak**

Ra was beginning to feel confident again. Having killed his First Prime with his hand device he had ordered most of the Jaffa outside, some 6,000 when supplemented by the 1,000 survivors of the mid range garrisons back to his ship to search for the human cattle that were causing him so much trouble. He an just learnt that they had been found in the glider bay and would soon be dead. As soon as this was accomplished he would send the Jaffa back outside and with the help of the udajeet, aka death gliders, and the Al-Kesh they would destroy all who would defy their god.

At that moment he was thrown to the floor by the most powerful explosion ever to occur on his command ship.

* * *

**Ra's landing complex, Defensive Perimeter**

Once the explosion had blown a hole in the side of the false gods ship Kuffu lead his team in a charge against the lightly guarded trenches, as death did not rain down from the sky it was clear that the rebel leaders promises that the explosion would prevent the false gods flying creatures from taking off were true. Despite the defensive works and the fixed defences the lack of troops and air support meant that the 1,000 Jaffa left to guard the perimeter, who were outnumbered 4 to 1, were overwhelmed by the human wave tactics of the rebels. The perimeter fell and the captured fixed defences swung round to face the false gods ship and opened fire.

* * *

**Ra's Command Ship, Pel'tak**

Supreme System Lord Ra would deny that he nearly collapsed with relief when the shots splattered harmlessly off the shields. Unfortunately said shields were not meant to be used on the ground and were fading fast as the generations strained against the electromagnetic field of the planet and the atmospheric interference. Left with little choice as his air support was gone, defences captured and Jaffa dead either in the fighting at the perimeter or in the explosion of the hanger bay and surrounding sections Ra powered up the engines and lifted off.

As his command ship slipped into hyperspace Ra vowed revenge on the rebels. He would return with a full army not just a garrison force and the rivers of the earth would run red with blood.

* * *

**Ra's Landing Complex, Stargate**

Unnoticed by the celebrating rebels the rebel leader most responsible for conceiving of, equipping and organising the rebellion stood in front of the outgoing wormhole. Ra was no doubt planning on coming back with reinforcements but with the gate to be buried early tomorrow he would have to come by ship. As soon as the System Lord Collective learned of this they would stop him as they would any Goa'uld who attempted to claim Earth as their own. If the gate was active this would not be possible but as any army had to arrive by ship it could be intercepted and destroyed. The reason for this was simple, whomever controlled Earth had the manpower to make themselves Supreme System Lord and while they all wanted that title all of the others wanted it as well so on one could send an army unless they wished to fight every other Goa'uld in existence including the current Supreme System Lord. Ra would not be able to reclaim Earth but he would most likely retain his position as he was to skilled and cunning for anything else to happen though he would be reduced from supreme leader to first among equals. Of course this would only happen if the System Lord Collective found out about Ra's defeat before he could reclaim Earth but this rebel leader intended to make sure that they did.

The Goa'uld Queen Egeria turned and walked through the event horizon.

The rebels buried the Stargate beneath engraved cover stones and sand the next day and prepared for the time when the false god would return. He never did.

* * *

Standard Google image searches of most things in this chapter will do the trick if you want to see them in more detail than I've described them. Just remember to add Stargate to the search when looking for actual objects/people/gods such as Ra.

The weakness of ship based shields on the ground is something I've expanded on. In cannon It's simply atmospheric interference that causes problems so the obvious solution would be to build a planetary shield outside the atmosphere like star wars does and yet no one does it so I added an extra component to the flaw. That will be a feature of all stargate shields apart from Alteran shields (Atlantis)

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	6. Chapter 6 Ties That Bind

I own none of the TV, movies, books or games mentioned

Galaxy maps are available on request. Just private message me your email address. I highly recommend it as the description of the Star Wars territory is hard to visualize. Unfortunately no Stargate galaxy map exists.

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There will be a little bit of description of the races in this section. Two, the Eidolons and the Sebaceans are from Farscape and the other two, the Dilgar and Minbari are from Babylon 5. Standard Google image searches will do the trick so I'll keep the descriptions as brief as possible and a short back-story to each race due to feedback from chapter 3.

For the purposes of this story the Peacekeeper ships are going to be powered by fusion reactors and use hyperspace like the Babylon 5 races that is much slower and more dangerous.

I own none of the TV, movies, books or games mentioned

A review saying "doing a good job" is always welcome.

* * *

**Chapter 6 Ties That Bind**

**4,000 years ago – Arnessk**

Jedi General James Koren stood in the C&C (Command and Control) of the Peacekeeper Command Carrier Protector, flagship of the Peacekeeper fleet. His companions stood behind him as did the junior officers of the woman standing next to him, that woman was Admiral Sarah Andromeda and she was the best battlefield commander in the armada. As they waited, tense and alert, James thought back to the events that had brought him to this place and this time.

After dropping Mandalore, T3-M4 and Ghoto off at Ceria the Ebon Hawk had continued on to Arnessk deep in the unknown regions…

* * *

**Four months previously – Hyperspace**

Once again the crew of the Ebon Hawk was gathered around the holo tank planning their next move.

"I find it highly unlikely that the Eidelons are going to believe that they are about to fall under attack from a previously unknown enemy simply because eight strangers from what they consider the unknown regions say they are, especially if all said strangers have to back up the prediction is the dying words of an old woman who could supposedly see the future" Mical had finally put into words that which they were all thinking.

"As easy as it would make our mission I am afraid that I have to agree" James said "we have to have hard proof of an attack to convince them that we are trustworthy, or at least convince them to start their own investigation."

"And how are we going to get that?" Atton questioned "Call up Sith headquarters and ask if they could send us a copy of their top secret battle plans?"

"It would make things considerably easier" Bao Dur laughed as the rest of the group smiled

"Fortunately the fact that the Eidelons and their Sebacean allies are so powerful, even if the Eidelons are pacifists, means that even if the Sith are able to end the war in one quick stroke its still going to require that they deploy a full fleet rather than a battle group" James said "and that works to our advantage"

"I do not understand how that helps us, surely a full fleet makes our mission much more difficult" Mical was the least military minded of the group due to his natural inclination as a diplomat

"The answer is surprisingly simple" James replied "a battle group can be deployed practically anywhere for a few short battles, a fleet however is much more challenging. In so many stories and holovids fleets just appear and power though everything light years from the borders of their empires. That simply can't happen." As he spent the 5 years of the Mandalorian Wars as third in command of all Republic military forces James knew what he was talking about and the others listened intently. "Patrols, strike forces, battle groups, all of these can carry their own supplies, or can with the addition a couple of supply ships and a fleet tender, a full fleet however is a totally different animal. The ships need oxygen, food, fuel, ammunition, replacement parts and replacement crew and that's just for travelling, when engaging in battle these requirements increase exponentially. More oxygen is needed because of hull breaches and fires destroying the supplies, battle damage needs to be repaired not just on the usual systems but practically every system including massive hull and amour plates that need to be replaced, fuel is burnt incredibly fast for battle manuvers and to power the shields, and crew members, fighters, bombers and pilots all get destroyed or killed and need to be replaced. In short unless you want to have to take triple the fleets numbers in supply ships you have to have what is known as a staging area to store all these supplies. This staging area has to be close to the area you are to attack and it has to be linked to your territory and supply distribution network by what is known as a supply line. In short deploying a full fleet offensively is a massive undertaking that takes time. You can't just decide to attack and set off 30 minuets later, offensive deployment usually means creating a staging area from scratch as the are you are deploying to is to far away to launch an attack from within your own territory and that takes months minimum.

Atton had spent his entire life looking for other peoples weaknesses and using them to his advantage and he immediately saw what James was implying "If the sith are going to deploy a full fleet then they have to have a staging are near to Arnessk and that sort of massive military build up is exactly the sort of proof that we need" he exclaimed

"Correct" James smiled "Especially given how different an offensive staging area is to a defensive one. With an offensive staging area in their back garden and with them the largest target around the Eidelons are going to add 2 and 2 and come up with the annual revised budget request and by alerting them to it we will have gained a great deal of trust and goodwill with them."

"It will be dangerous" Bao Dur spoke softly "Staging areas are usually heavily guarded and this one will be more so than most simply because its destruction will break the sith power in this sector of the galaxy for decades"

"A fact that could work in our favour" Mira added thoughtfully "the Sith hate the Republic and the Jedi far more than they do the races here. They are only trying to expand in this direction because they lost the last war with the Republic. If we destroy this staging area they may not bother to build another preferring to put all their resources into extracting revenge on the Jedi" Silence fell upon the group as they thought on that

Atton broke the silence "Well I guess I best go back to the cockpit and start hunting, there are a lot of systems that the staging area could be in and we haven't got long to find it."

* * *

**One month later – Arnessk **

Captain Bracca was a Sebacean in his mid 30s with fair skin, short cropped blond hair and blue eyes. Looking very neat in his black Peacekeeper uniform with red trim he stood in the C&C of his patrol cruiser Trevion watching for anything unusual.

"Sensor contact" one of his officers called out

"Who is it?" he replied "It will have to be a large ship" he thought "we are to far from the jump gate for it to be anything without its own jump drive"

"Unknown" his sensor officer replied

"What?"

"Profile unknown, power generation unknown, hull material unknown, weaponry unknown, method of travel unknown, sir they must have come via faster than light travel but we detected no jump point, have to have used another method of FTL. I think we have a first contact situation sir"

Captain Bracca resisted the urge to yell "ya think?!" at his sensor officer who was only doing her job. "Why me" he thought nervously. First contacts were a very tricky thing and could make or break a captains career not to mention make or break a civilization. "Well I have to do something" he thought "this problems landed in my lap and I have to deal with it" "All stop" he said aloud "Have they made any attempt to communicate with us?"

"Yes sir, they have come to all stop and have transmitted a contact package with a language that appears to be similar in nature to interlac, I believe they call it basic, the translators working on it now and we should be able to communicate in a couple of minuets"

Those two minuets were the longest of Captain Bracca's life. Finally the translator was ready "This is Captain Bracca of the Peacekeeper cruiser Trevion, on behalf of the Eidelons and the Sebaceans I welcome you to the Arnessk system and ask your intensions" Bracca hoped that this was going to be a peaceful first contact

"Greetings Captain Bracca" the unknown ship replied "This is James Koren. Our intentions are peaceful however I need to speak to a flag officer as I have information of an impending attack on Arnessk"

Captain Bracca felt his heart sink. It was going to be one of those days.

* * *

**Two Days later – Arnessk **

James Koren sat in a high backed chair in front of a semicircular table. Seated at the table were One Eidelon, one Sebacean, one Dilgar and one Minbari all of whom were ambassadors.

"Explain once more what you believe is going to occur" The Sebacean representative asked

James answered "The civilization known as the Sith Empire has established a staging area on the world of Polaris*. I have information gained from a clairvoyant force user that they intend to attack you due to the direction you are taking with your government. The staging area and lack of any other major powers to target confirm this."

"I still find this 'force' difficult to believe in" the Sebacean representative said

"He levitated you around the room" the Dilgar representative shot back "but the precise workings of the force or its existence are not for debate here we have been shown the recordings of the alleged staging area at Polaris and told that they intend to attack us. We now need to decide how to respond"

"A diplomatic mission would most likely be best" the Eidelon representative said

"No" the Minbari representative quickly disagreed "better we send in a Peacekeeper Disruptor** first to determine their intentions and whether they would respond to diplomatic attempts"

"Agreed" the Dilgar and Sebacean representatives said

* * *

**Two months later – Arnessk**

James Koren had spent the last two months learning about his hosts.

The Eidelons were pacifists with a unique gift known as the ability to influence peace. They have a specialised gland located in their heads which grants them this ability, what this was was a type of psi power that James had never experienced before, when in use the otherwise human looking Eidelons face split open to reveal three inner turreted eyes and the power began to influence those in the room. First, the gland acts as an empathic receptor, allowing the Eidelon to sense the wants and desires of those nearby, once the Eidelon has spent time acclimating to and understanding the creatures' psyche. Secondly, the organ vibrates to create an energy field which facilitates tranquility and rationality in those nearby. It did not manipulate but rather suppressed the posturing and bravado that usually caused negotiations to break down allowing both sides to negotiate with clear heads and cool logical dispositions.

The Sebaceans were originally humans but needing a species to protect them and enforce the peace of their treaties the Eidelons had taken primitive humans from the core worlds and adapted them to create Sebaceans. Looking exactly like their human ancestors the Sebaceans have keener eyesight and could live to the humans 200 year maximum without the intensive medical treatment a non force user human requires to reach that upper limit. However this had come at a cost as the Sebaceans had no kidneys, the job instead being done by a single organ known as the paraphoral nerve and were quite literally cold blooded. This lack of ability to regulate their own body temperature left Sebaceans vulnerable to high temperatures that caused a condition known as heat delirium and eventually a permanent coma known as the living death. Sebaceans are a military people and make up the Peacekeepers but they also have a strong sense of honour and uphold the principles of the strong defending the weak not taking advantage of them.

The Dilgar were a humanoid species that evolved from cats. Commonly dark hair, orange tinted skin, pointed canine teeth and cat like eyes were their distinguishing features and they had better eyesight, balance and faster reactions than humans. From their home world of Omelos the Dilgar had conquered many surrounding systems before being contained by the Minbari and the Peacekeepers. The resulting centuries had softened their desire to conquer until they no longer started wars unless provoked. Of course if you did provoke a Dilgar you could be dam sure that they would be the first into a fight and the last out of it.

The Minbari were human in appearance except for the complete lack of hair anywhere on their body and a large bone crest on their heads that was part of their skulls. Stronger, more resilient and more long lived than humans the Minbari were divided into three casts, worker, warrior and religious and were ruled by the grey council which had three members of each cast.

Together these four species had over the centuries formed a government like the European Union but recently that had started to change as they began to openly discuss uniting under one banner for foreign affairs and interspecies issues. They had begun to create their own Republic. That the Sith had targeted them for that but that was only making them more determined than ever to continue with it.

James had also spent the time teaching the ambassadors and military of each race about the force and had discovered that there were force sensitives among them. Together the ambassadors had approached him to ask what his reaction would be if they asked him to create an order of force users to help protect the government they were about to create from the sith and the jedi. He would be given free reign to decide on how this new order should work and what it should teach. James was glad to receive a call on his comlink saying that the disrupter dispatched to Polaris had returned. It allowed him to forget about that issue for a while.

* * *

**One month later – Command Carrier _Protector_**

Snapping back to the current time James Koren looked at the main display showing the fleets disposition. The Peacekeeper ships held the centre line. Shaped like long curved edged rectangles with two large circles built in at the top and bottom in these crafts main armaments were the Frag cannons. Placed in 4 positions between the Command Carriers rings these were massive batteries of three cannons that flung chemically created plasma at the target, unfortunately they were quite inferior to turbo lasers that the sith and Republic used. Unfortunately the same was true of the amour and unusual shield that they called the Defence Screen. Prowlers and marauders were much more manuverable than the sith fighters though giving a small advantage to the peacekeeper armada

On the right flank of the formation were the Minbari. The Shargotti, Sharins and Tanashis of the Minbari fleet looked like angelfish and were covered in blue crystalline amour. Again they were under gunned and under protected by Sith standards but their Nial fighters and Liandra gunboats gave the strike craft advantage to the allies. The main advantage of the Minbari which they used to compensate for their lack of a defence screen was an extremely powerful stealth system. This would not work as well against the Sith as the Minbari would like but it would throw their targeting off which was better than nothing.

On the left flank of the formation were the Dilgar. Using bolters as their primary armament they were slightly better armed per shot than their Minbari and Peacekeeper allies but their main advantage was how many guns they had managed to attach to their ships without blowing themselves up. Dilgar ships were lightly armoured even by Peacekeeper standards but they were also superbly fast and their dreadnoughts were more manuverable than most other civilizations frigates.

All three races stood silent and waiting. On the insistence of the pacifist Eidelons a message had been sent to Polaris once the fleet was about to leave warning them that they would be committing an act of war if they entered the Arnessk system and that they only wished to live in peace with those around them.

Just then the tactical display lit up with hundreds of red dots as the Sith fleet dropped out of hyperspace and soon after the ship shook as the first turbo laser volley slammed into the defence screen. The Sith Conflict had begun.

* * *

**Unknown Location**

The Goa'uld Queen Egeria swam through the waters of the lake on this abandoned world. Far from the domain of any System Lord it was a beautiful forest planet with large clear lakes. Egeria had left her host on the side and had entered the water in her natural serpent like state, the reason for this was that she felt that she had to pass on what she had learned, the revelation she had had that it was wrong to take unwilling hosts and that humans were far more than cattle. As Egeria spawned thousands of symbiotes all with her genetic memory she imprinted one last thing, she, they were no longer Goa'uld, they would now be known as Tok'ra and they would fight until the evil of their Goa'uld cousins was removed from the galaxy for ever

* * *

* I have placed Polaris in the middle of the Expansion Region on a straight line between the Ssi Ruuk Star Cluster and Fondor

** A disruptor is a Peacekeeper intelligence agent widely believed to be the very best in the galaxy with a phenomenally high success rate

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	7. Chapter 7 The Sith Conflict

I own none of the TV, movies, books or games mentioned

Galaxy maps are available on request. Just private message me your email address. I highly recommend it as the description of the Star Wars territory is hard to visualize. Unfortunately no Stargate galaxy map exists.

* * *

The Babylon 5 universe is here simply because I needed two extra races to be founding members and a way of FTL that wasn't hetch as that creates more problems than it solves. B5 hyperspace explains why the races haven't left the unknown regions and provides a couple of benefits.

Star wars hyperspace was given to the galaxy by some ancient and forgotten race. Sound familiar? My take on it is that it's the same as Stargate hyperspace except its not as well reverse engineered so you can only go in a straight line and not make course corrections meaning you have to plot the jump so you don't fly though things that Stargate hyper drives go around. Also stopping basically means cutting power to the drive when you think your in the right place making it very inaccurate and its horrendously underpowered making it slow and unable to operate in a gravity well.

* * *

**Chapter 7 The Peacekeeper Wars**

**4,000 years ago – Arnessk **

The sith main fleet dropped out of hyperspace consisting of some 400 capitol ships 1000 escorts. Immediately they opened fire with a massed volley straight into the defenders and launched fighters from the capitol ships. Turbo laser fire pored away from the ships like a red river while fighter squadrons cleared the capitol ships and assembled into screening formations in front of them.

Facing them across the vastness of the system was the combined Peacekeeper/Minbari fleet. As soon as the sith probes had left the fleet had immediately redeployed and was now in a crescent moon formation. At the centre of the formation was the Command Carrier Protector, flagship of the fleet, and the majority of the other command carriers were surrounding her. In front and to both sides the rest of the centre section of the line was Peacekeeper heavy cruisers and their escorts with a dozen or so command carriers anchoring either side of the Peacekeeper formation. On the right and left flanks the Minbari fleet arranged in a similar manner with the two Shargotti Command Cruisers in the centre of each flank surrounded by Sharlin class war cruisers, Tanashi frigates made up the rest of the flanks with several dozen Sharlins anchoring the far flanks of the fleet and the edge of the Peacekeeper formations. The Dilgar warships were positioned behind the main fleet in two groups. Both were of similar size and were made up of frigates and cruisers. The remaining ¼ of the Dilgar fleet which was all of their dreadnoughts was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

**Command Carrier **_**Protector**_

Admiral Sarah Andromeda winced as she saw the numbers of the Sith fleet. They had done as she feared and deployed their whole fleet leaving only a token force behind to defend the staging area. While her own force was larger with 600 capitol ships and 1200 escorts, only 250 of them were Command Carriers and the sith had them out armoured and out gunned. "First things first" she thought "we have the strike craft advantage and I fully intend to make the Sith admiral to dance to my tune in that area if nothing else. Hopefully he's the typically bully boy size obsessed commander the Sith like to promote and he wont concentrate on my strike craft to much." "Deploy all fighters and Liandras in front of the fleet" she ordered "I want them to engage the sith fighters but make sure they stay out of range of the sith escorts"

* * *

**Peacekeeper Prowler **

Officer Tavo Crais received orders from the Protector to advance on the Sith forces and he hit is com button to relay them to his squad "Ok pilots" he said "we are to join up with the Dilgar thoruns and Minbari nials and liandras and advance on the Sith fleet while the marauders and escorts protect our big guns. Do not enter range of the Sith escorts, we want to lure their fighters away from them and then cut them to pieces. Remember we're faster and more manuverable than they are so take advantage of it" Hitting his own throttle as the order to advance came through the Peacekeeper, Dilgar and Minbari fighters with the larger liandra anti starfighter gun ships dispersed among them poured out in a swarm heading for the Sith fighters that had abandoned the safety of the escort ships guns and were rushing out to meet them.

* * *

**Minbari Shargotti War Cruiser **_**Drala'fi **_

Alyt Neroon looked at the tactical display on the bridge of his warcruiser "at least Admiral Andromeda is competent" he thought "I had my reservations as she is not Minbari but she has chosen excellently, our fighter craft will decimate the Siths especially with liandra gunship support. We can't win this fight by the big guns slugging it out, much as it pains me to say it the Sith have to much of a technological advantage for that to work**" **

"Alyt Neroon the Protector is ordering the fleet to go to ahead half speed. Targeting orders are any of opportunity but we are to focus our main firepower on the escorts not the capitol ships" his communication officer translated the orders from the flagship

"Very well ahead half, power up the stealth system and target the neutron and fusion beams on the enemy escorts. The gunners are to ignore the capitol ships unless they think they have a chance of a kill. For the Glory of Minbar!"

* * *

**Peacekeeper Prowler **

Officer Tavo Crais cursed as he threw his prowler into a left roll to avoid the expanding ball of wreckage that just a moment ago had been his wingman. "The dammed sith are not sloppy" he thought coming out if the role and lining up on a sith fighter from above and to the left "they have superb amour and its keeping them in the fight" the fighter dodged and weaved in front making his shots go wide "Stay still you bastard" he screamed aloud in his cockpit just then one of his shots connected blowing off the left wing of the sith fighter which promptly began to spin allowing him to finish it off. Swerving right to avoid the debris Crais found himself in the sights of a duo of sith fighters but before he could dodge the golden body of a liandra gunship swooped overhead firing its dozen gun turrets at any fighter that was in range. The two about to blow Crais's fighter out from under him promptly exploded in twin fireballs as the liandra continued its graceful arc looking for more fighters to destroy and trying to shake a fighter that had slipped in behind it and was pouring fire into its engines. Crais hit his turbos and went after them at an angle hoping to come in from below and blast the fighter that was giving his savoir so much trouble when bright balls of orange light larger than the gunship flew past followed quickly by bright green beams. The big guns had entered the battle.

* * *

**Command Carrier _Protector_**

Admiral Andromeda winced as another command carrier, the _Zelbinion_, disintegrated under the sustained turbolaser fire of the Sith Fleet. The defence screens of the Command Carriers were not withstanding turbolaser fire well while the shields of the Sith fleet were dealing with frag cannon blasts and the Minbari beams all to well. Already she'd lost several capitol ships and dozens of escorts and only four Sith capitol ships were destroyed in return although, she noted with satisfaction, her fleet was taking a heavy toll on the Sith escort ships with their weaker shields and amour and the sith fighter craft were all but destroyed "deploy the marauders into the fighter battle" she ordered "With so many of the siths fighters destroyed our escort ships should be able to deal with any that break through."

* * *

**Minbari Shargotti War Cruiser **_**Drala'fi**_

Alyt Neroon was knocked off his feet as Drala'fi rocked as one of her escort Sharlins, _Ingata_, succumbed to the Sith barrage. Picking himself up and avoiding the fallen support beam and sparking electronics Neroon checked the tactical display again. The entry of the marauders in to the fighter battle had decimated what was left of the sith ranks and their strike craft capability was effectively broken "which is a good thing" Neroon thought "as the main battle is not going nearly as well". The crescent moon formation of the fleet was showing very jagged edges where cruisers had been destroyed by concentrated fire from the sith capitol ships. The three centre groups had fared better but only because the Sith were focusing on the join of the Peacekeeper and Minbari formations and the Command Carriers and Sharlins there had taken heavy losses repelling the siths attempts to split the Minbari and Peacekeepers off from each other. "Fools" Neroon thought as another capitol ship attempted to charge the centre of the fleet. This would have been a good tactic if the fleet was in line formation like most Republic fleets but the crescent moon formation ensured any ship charging the centre took fire from three sides simultaneously and not even superior shields and amour could save ships from that. He watched with a great deal of satisfaction as the dagger shaped sith capitol ship franticly attempted to turn around as its shields collapsed and frag cannon blasts started to blow chunks out of the hull. The floor vibrated as _Drala'fi's_ gunners noticed the siths weakness and tuned the neutron and fusion beams on the ship. Green beams tore glowing trenches deep into the hull slicing the command tower and the front of the ship straight off, fires burned from the trenches and holes as the ship fell apart under the onslaught. "It's not enough though" thought Neroon as he watched three Tanashis vanish from the tactical display in quick succession, our ship losses are approaching 30% while the siths are only at 18% and most of those are escorts. I hope Andromeda knows what she is doing otherwise this fleet is going to be destroyed"

* * *

**Command Carrier **_**Protector**_

As another Sharlin exploded taking a nearby Command Carrier and two cruisers with it Admiral Andromeda realized that the second phase of her plan would have to be put into action early as the fleet could not take many more losses before they lost their numerical advantage. "Contact _Dominant Destiny_ and _Unyielding Vendetta_ have them lead their battle groups in sweeping strikes, tell them to target escorts only unless capitol ships are vulnerable, emphasis on the anti starfighter escorts" the harassed command crew transmitted the orders at once.

* * *

**Peacekeeper Prowler**

Tavo Crais spun his prowler searching for another target and bore witness to the Dilgar entering the battle. The two halves of the Dilgar fleet accelerated and flew around the edges of the crescent formation of the main fleet before slamming into the sides of the Sith formation, using their speed the Dilgar warships used slashing attacks to badly damage the Sith. Crais watched as a Dilgar pentacan of three cruisers screamed down on the Sith their bolters firing constantly, shields collapsed and hulls exploded as the bolters rained down on the sith escorts. Unable to turn or role fast enough to bring weapons to bear on the Dilgar, who were striking from above and below rather than on the two dimensional battlefield that the sith had arranged their ships on, the cruisers were lasting far longer than had been predicted and were scoring impressive kills. Crais cheered as a sith escort folded in on itself when bolters warped and deformed the amidships, its stern and bow touched before the reactors lost containment and it blew up spectacularly. Unfortunately that would be the last kill this pentacan would make as one of the capitol ships finally reoriented itself and sent out a wave of turbolaser fire straight in the cruisers path, with no time to react one Dilgar cruiser ran headlong into this wall of fire and quite simply disintegrated under the onslaught, another franticly turned so fast that the space frame must have been pushed to its limits but it was for naught as in the crowded battlefield the cruiser ploughed bow first into a sith capitol ship punching through the upper half of the claw and partly into the second before it lost containment blasting both ships into fragments that slammed into the surrounding escorts. The final ship took several hits but flew on with flames spewing out of holes in the hull, resolutely it slowed and then turned round for another attack run.

"Dam it why aren't we being sent to help?" Crais thought "there are virtually no fighters left and the fleet has been stripping their anti starfighter defence for the entire battle. The sith ships are just bunching tighter and tighter together overlapping their fields of fire and the Dilgar ships don't have the amour to run into that kind of firepower and survive" his prediction came true as the Dilgar ships casualties started to mount. Having lost a third of their ships they turned and ran back to the main fleet. The sith fleet, having learned its lesson was now bunched as tightly together as possible and stayed that way as they advanced perusing the fleeing Dilgar ships and once more opening up on the fleet. Crais watched in despair as defence screens failed, amour shattered and the allied ships began to die once more.

* * *

**Minbari Shargotti War Cruiser **_**Drala'fi**_

"Incompetence" raged Alyt Neroon internally as he watched the Dilgar run back to the main fleet having dished out, but also taken heavy losses. "We could have had them! If the starfighters had been sent in as well they could possibly have turned the tide of this battle in our favour but now the opportunity is lost." He was about to order a direct line to Andromeda to have her to transfer command to him when his com officer beat him to it

"Flagship signalling sir. One word, Nemesis"

"what the hell does that mean?" Neroon thought "It's a pre planned order obviously but with the failure of the Dilgar charge I can't see anything that will win this battle for us"

Outside in the ranks of the tightly bunched sith fleet small dots of white light appeared. These quickly expanded into full orange jump point vortexes that tore and shredded the shields and hulls of the sith fleet. Hundreds of ships died as the power of the vortexes quite literally ripped them apart, dagger shaped capitol ships were torn in half and the claws ripped open and escorts pulled in multiple directions were ripped into pieces and those ships that did survive took heavy damage to their shields. It was into this perfectly executed jump point attack that the Dilgar dreadnoughts missing since the start of the battle emerged with their bolters blazing.

Neroon fought down the urge to let his mouth drop open in surprise. "I had forgotten about the Dilgar capitol ships" he thought "I had assumed they had been deployed in Arnessk orbit as a last line of defence should we fail here. Instead Andromeda had them standing by in jumpspace and was feeding them direct information from the ships in battle. After forcing the sith to bunch up she ordered them to jump in destroying hundreds of ships and that's why she couldn't deploy the starfighters, they'd have been massacred in the attack." "What are you staring at? Keep firing!" he ordered. The crew jumped to obey and _Drala'fi's _weapons spoke once more.

* * *

**Command Carrier **_**Protector**_

Admiral Sarah Andromeda breathed a sigh of relief as the Dilgar dreadnoughts powered through the sith fleet and formed up with her own taking the place of destroyed Command Carriers and Sharlins. It had been a risky manuver denying the fleet the firepower of the Dilgar capitol ships but the jump point attack had caused horrendous casualties among the Sith justifying the risk. "Come on gain some distance" she willed the sith fleet to obey and as if the Sith Admiral had heard her words the Sith fleet began to scatter abandoning its close knit formation to avoid another jump point attack. "Yes" she thought "Order all starfighters and gunships to close on and engage the sith fleet and order the two Dilgar battle groups to resume their strafing runs. As soon as the Dilgar dreadnoughts have formed up with us order the fleet to full ahead and target anything that has low or failed shields" She said to the crew. "we may just win this"

* * *

**Peacekeeper Prowler**

Tavo Crais had a new respect for the sneakiness of Admiral Andromeda but he did not have time to think on it as he was busy tying not to fly into fully functional ships, dead and burning ships or large pieces of wreckage floating around while he took pot-shots at the sith capitol ships. With most of the anti starfighter escorts destroyed earlier in the battle the starfighters were having a relatively easy time of it as the capitol ships had little in the way of starfighter defence instead relying on their escorts and the few times they had tried firing ship to ship weaponry at him they hit each other. Crais let out a very unprofessional whoop as he destroyed yet another gun turret on the capitol ship he was strafing, de clawing it and making it little more than floating target practice for the fleet. His fellow pilots were doing the same on all ships that had lost their shields and the fleet had noticed and was concentrating their fire long enough to bring down a ships shields and then moving on leaving the fighters to destroy its armament. "we might actually win this" Crais thought as another gun turret bit the dust and a turbolaser bolt flew passed him burying itself in the escort behind him causing it to explode. Of course that was when it all went wrong.

* * *

**Minbari Shargotti War Cruiser **_**Drala'fi**_

Alyt Neroon watched with undisguised horror as, despite her escorts throwing themselves in front of her, shot after shot of turbolaser fire buried themselves in the Shargotti war cruiser _Trigati_. The noble ship gave a good accounting of herself her beams firing as fast as possible even as the turbolasers blew chunks of her crystalline amour off into space but the damage was just to great and the _Trigati_ broke up and exploded

* * *

**Command Carrier _Protector_**

"Admiral the Minbari flagship has been destroyed! The left flank is collapsing!" one of the junior officers screamed out

"No" Admiral Andromeda thought "Not now, not when were so close" but without the _Trigati's_ guidance the left flank was breaking up and falling out of formation, the sith recognized the weakness and made a one last charge and unfortunately if the Minbari ships didn't recover quickly then they were going to win. Andromeda turned to James Koren who was standing next to her "I realize that this will mean revealing the presence of a force user and increase the likeness of the sith coming back but if you don't use your battle meditation to turn the tide It won't matter because they are going to destroy this entire fleet and there are no more ships left to create another one."

James looked at the tactical display and saw that she was right. He quickly sat down and began to meditate reaching out to the allied fleet and giving them confidence and awareness of what every other ship was doing. At the same time he touched the minds of the sith and filled them with despair and disorganized them

* * *

**Minbari Shargotti War Cruiser **_**Drala'fi**_

"Why was I ever worried? Neroon questioned himself as confidence flooded through him "The left flank is already firming up and the sith fleets attack is petering out" He didn't have to yell at the crew to fire faster, they were already doing it.

Two hours later the sith fleet retreated into hyperspace. They had arrived with 1400 ships. They left with 256.

* * *

**4000 years ago – Abydos **

Tok'ra Queen Egeira was quietly wondering how long Ra was going to go on. Ever since the ashrack that had captured her had brought her to him half an hour ago Ra had been monologue mode. I am a god, blah blah, how dare you defy my divine will, blah blah, you will suffer eternally, blah blah. Inwardly she smiled at her hosts comment that if Ra was human he would be the sort of man that used a ruler to settle arguments with other men. Neither she nor her host were worried about dying, she knew whatever he did to her he would eventually be overthrown, her children would see to it.

Ra found his prisoner smiling at him in the middle of his monologue very disconcerting.

* * *

Google image searches will provide pictures of most of the ships here but they won't be making an appearance again so you don't need to worry to much unless your curious.

Reviewing takes 30 seconds. Please do so, I like to get conformation that people are actually reading this and I'm not just writing to myself


	8. Chapter 8 Forged in Fire

I own none of the TV, movies, books or games mentioned

Galaxy maps are available on request. Just private message me your email address. I highly recommend it as the description of the Star Wars territory is hard to visualize. Unfortunately no Stargate galaxy map exists.

* * *

The government of the Republic and the new force user order needs to be described here but I will try to be as brief as possible

A review saying "doing a good job" is always welcome.

The crossover with Stargate will appear in chapter 12 so we're almost there. Until then the Farscape, Freespace and Babylon 5 crossovers will have to do but there will be several more Stargate titbits coming before then.

* * *

**Chapter 8 Forged in Fire**

**3,998 years ago – Polaris**

James Koren stood alone in the city that was being built upon the surface of Polaris. Two years ago the Interstellar Alliance of Eidelons, Sebaceans, Dilgar and Minbari had fought and one the Battle for Arnessk. The sith had arrived with 1400 ships and were confident of victory but the allies had stood resolute and fought with courage and cunning to beat off the sith armada which ran with just 256 heavily damaged ships left. It had cost them though, by the end, of the 1800 ships that had gone into the battle only 632 had made it out and a full 1/3 of those ships had needed months in space dock to be made battle ready again.

For the next year the allies had pursued the Sith from system to system never letting them rest long enough to recover while the shipyards franticly repaired and built more ships until finally the Sith had been pushed back to their staging area at Polaris. After a brief but bloody battle Admiral Sarah Andromeda had finally defeated the sith and pushed them out of this section of the galaxy, at least for now.

"I don't think they will return" James thought to himself "After losing a full fleet they would need to send at least three fleets to be confident of victory to say nothing of setting up another staging area and that will take up to much of their resources. The Mandalorians are on the move, Revans causing them significant headaches and they still view the Republic as their primary enemy. Even the sith know better than to fight a war on multiple fronts if they can help it."

James looked down at the document in his hand, a blueprint for what he had set out to achieve two years ago. The new Republic would be governed by a Parliament that would be made up of two chambers, the lower chamber would be known as the General Assembly and would have a democratically elected representative for each sector of the Republic. A sector would be made up of a races holdings when they entered the Republic or would be one created by the parliament. The parliament created sectors could either be given entirely to one of the member races to govern as they saw fit or would be open to everyone and governed by a carbon copy of the federal government.

The upper chamber would be known as the Landsraad and would be made up of one member for each sector who was appointed for life. Chosen by a randomly selected jury appointed in secret anyone could submit their name for consideration and nominations would be made by the General Assembly, The Supreme Chancellor, The sector representative, the sector government and James's order. This chamber allowed those who were not politicians to take part in the government brining their considerable experience in industry, social work, civil service, military, diplomacy, law, teaching etc… to the government without having to worry about campaigning. This body could advise and amend proposals from the General Assembly but could not stop them as the democratically elected Assembly was supreme.*

The Supreme Chancellor was the leader of the government. Elected in Republic wide elections in the first passed the post system the Chancellor formed the executive and had authority in almost all areas.

The Security council had twelve members. The five permanent seats were held by the founding members the, Eidelons, Sebaceans, Dilgar, Minbari and the force user order that James had created. The sixth seat was held by the Supreme Chancellor and the remaining six seats were given to the other species of the Republic for fixed six year terms based on their date of entry into the Republic with the newest members first. The Security council members were appointed by the Parliament and the permanent member representatives served until they wished to step down. The Supreme Chancellor and Grand Master of the force users seats were filled automatically by whoever held those titles. The Security Council held supreme authority in all foreign, military and security services affairs on the theory that such affairs required swift and decisive action and that politics should stop at the waters edge. The Parliament still controlled the budget for those three departments though. In the event of a tie the Supreme Chancellor cast the deciding vote.

The supreme court was selected at random from the justices of each sectors high courts. There were six Associate Justices and one Chief Justice that served for life and they were the highest court of law in the Republic. However the acts of parliament approved by both houses, the chancellor and if necessary, the security council were laws that the supreme court could not overturn.

The member races of the Republic remained almost completely independent. When they joined they signed the Declaration of Principles that set out what their governments should adhere to, they had to democratically elect their representative to the General Assembly and bow to the Security Councils control of foreign affairs. The Parliaments authority to smooth over disputes and to investigate accusations of violations of the Declaration of Principals was recognized. Member races could keep their own militaries but most didn't bother as they would be under Republic command if they left their sector.**

The final statute of the new constitution was that the expenditure on the Peacekeepers, who would now accept all races, must never fall below 15% of the total budget. This ensured that a politician looking for a quick fix to falling popularity could never put the nations defence at risk by cutting military spending below sustainable levels to give money to tax cuts or fund useless initiatives

James added one additional statute and sent it back for approval. "Adding an additional ½ dactarian (penny/cent) to the tax rate that the government decides to levy on every denari (dollar/pound) will not be popular but I have seen governments collapse under debt and this will ensure that an emergency fund that cannot be spent unless the parliament declares an emergency or war will be a viable alternative to borrowing money and then paying back even more than this tax will bring in on the interest of the dept let alone the debt itself"***

James turned and headed back to the mini city he now called home. As it came into view he smiled as he remembered the arguments that had ensued when creating the new order.

* * *

**Two months previously – Polaris**

James looked around at his companions as they all lay about on the grass in one of the parks aboard the Command Carrier _Protector_. They had been working on the new force user order for some time but were not quite there yet. The stumbling block at the moment was the name.

"I still believe that…"

"Mical we are not calling ourselves the Jedi order mk2" Atton exploded "The Jedi are hypocrites and baby snatchers we are leaving all of that behind including the name"

"Dam straight" Mira chimed in "We have already decided that no one will be accepted for training before their 18th birthday. The Jedi cut themselves off from all that made them living beings and had to start early to do that. All of us except James have been trained in adulthood and we are better than any Jedi of similar power. You have to have experienced life before you can protect it"

"At least that issue had been uncontroversial in the group" James thought "though it would give any Jedi with their absolute limit of 9 years old heart attacks. I think its time to throw out my suggestion and see what they think" "I have a suggestion" he said aloud "Astarii. The Astarii Order" The others were silent as James had only intervened when they were unable to come to a decision. He believed that as a Jedi trained from a child he was biased but surprisingly he actually agreed with most of what they had decided upon. Except making him Grand Master but the vote on that had been unanimous, worst luck.

"What does it mean?" Brianna asked

"What makes you think it means anything?" James replied

"Because we know you" Atton answered "With the amount of history and other stuff you read theirs no way it doesn't mean anything"

James smiled "They do know me to well" he thought "Your right" he replied "It's a word from the ancient language of the elves, it means races of the stars. Not races from the stars but rather made of them, I thought it appropriate since the force burns within us like stars in space"

"The Astarii Order" Bao Dur said thoughtfully "Burning brighter than the stars. I like it"

"Yeh" Atton replied a distant look on his face "I think we have our name"

After sitting in silence for several minuets pondering how they had at last broken with the Jedi James Koren, no longer the Jedi Exile because you couldn't be exiled from something you chose to leave behind, spoke up. "Well lets review what we have decided for the Astarii Order" he said "We are keeping the classes and saber colours of the Jedi. The Astarii Council will oversee the order and will have eleven members. One will be the Grand Master, elected for life, two will be elected for life, four will be randomly selected to serve until they no longer wish to do so and four will be randomly selected for a six year term. 18 will be the minimum age for training and the ranks are apprentice, padawan, knight, master, council master and Grand Master" All the others were nodding in agreement at what several weeks of deliberation had resulted in "so we just need the code and the oath of allegiance" James concluded

"I have been working on a possible code" Mical spoke up tentatively and then continued on…

_Our knowledge guides us, Our ignorance humbles us_

_Our passion drives us, Our serenity guides us_

_Our harmony calms us, Our chaos challenges us_

_We are Astarii, and the force shall be our guide_

"Wow. I didn't know you had it in you Mical" Atton teased

"A most accurate and poetic code" Visas spoke up

"I agree" Brianna said "The code of the Astarii has been written"

"Don't tell me you've written the Oath of Allegiance as well" Mira smiled "If you have I think that its certain who will be writing everything from now on"

"Actually James and I wrote it together" Mical answered

_I pledge allegiance to the Astarii Order_

_And to the Republic which we serve_

_Where we walk in the dark places no others will enter_

_And where we stand on the bridge so no one may pass_

_We do this to defend the weak from the strong_

_And to ensure that all are equal before the law_

_I pledge allegiance to the Astarii Order_

_For the Republic we live, and for the Republic we die_

At that moment the fifth founding member of the Republic was created, and an order that would become more powerful than the hypocritical Jedi and cruel Sith combined began its long journey home.

* * *

**Four months later – The memorial gardens**

When deciding which planet would be the capitol of the new government no one could agree which one It should be. James then suggested Polaris as a reminder that the Republic was forged in the fires of war when the Sith tried to strangle it in its cradle, a lesson that should not be forgotten. Construction of the new Capitol city was started immediately and its design and location was unique. A great river, the Anduin, flowed through two sheer cliffs through a gap 50 meters wide. After passing through these mountains it emerged into a large circular area several kilometres across that was surrounded by white mountains on all sides. Many small waterfalls fell down the side of the mountains and joined the Anduin as it flowed through before it forked creating a large island in the centre. The Anduin then disappeared underground flowing underneath the mountains on the other side and out into the sea. This was where the new capitol city of the Republic was to be constructed, its name was Rivendell. Built in a similar style to Theed on Naboo the city was wood and stone with no buildings more than a few stories high**** as a reminder that not all lived in skyscrapers of durasteel as on Coruscant.

There were three major features to the city, The first and the last were still under construction but the second was finished and this was where James stood. The natural island in the centre of the city had been turned into a large memorial garden to honour those who had fallen in the Peacekeeper Wars and all those that would fall in the years to come in order to keep the Republic safe. In the centre of the Gardens was the Great Seal of the Republic*****, 10 meters across, with the black sections made into projectors that showed holograms on a continuous loop displaying the names of the fallen.

All around people had gathered and news crews recorded the historic event. Surrounded by the holograms of the fallen Astarii Grand Master James Koren stepped up to the podium that had been placed in the centre of the seal and became the first to sign the declaration of Principles and Constitution of the Republic. The four other representatives signed after him and worlds all over the sector rocked to sounds of cheering and rejoicing.

The Galactic Republic of Planets had been born, and nothing would ever be the same again.

* * *

**Three years later – Astarii Temple**

James Koren, Grand Master of the Astarii order looked out across the city of Rivendell. At the opposite end on an artificial island, just inside the gap which the Anduin flowed through that was the only entrance to the city stood the Republic citadel (think Isenguard). An outer circular ring thick enough to hold two rings of offices and a corridor inside that was five stories high formed the outside of the citadel. Four large arches two stories high allowed the roads carried by the four bridges to enter the citadel. Inside the outer ring were the gardens and at the centre was the kilometre high Tower of Palantir, meaning wisdom and seeing stone, that housed the Parliament, Security Council, the Chancellors office and the Supreme court. The outside of the ring and the tower were covered in a ruby red firestone that reflected the sunlight perfectly and little was more romantic than a walk along the top of the outer ring at sunset.

James reflected on the Astarii Temple itself as he walked towards the inner sanctuary deep within. Built on the opposite side to the opening where a prow jutted out of the white mountain the temple was seven tiers high and circular (think Minas Tirith) with a single large arch four stories high and with, over their strenuous objections, carvings of Atton, Visas, Brianna, Mical, Mira and Bao Dur on the gates. James smirked as a memory rose unbidden "I thought I had actually gotten away with that one, until I came back and found a similar sized statue of me in the main courtyard inside the gate. I should have known Atton and Mira wouldn't have taken it lying down" he thought. The city itself was covered in an ocean blue firestone that reflected the moonlight perfectly casting a blue glow across the city by night.

James paused as he reached the inner sanctuary and saw his friends in the cyostasis tubes.

"I wondered if you were going to go without saying goodbye" Visas said quietly as she helped him undress and pack his clothes and other belongings into a footlocker at the bottom of the last remaining cryotube. "Don't worry. I know that I can't come with you this time"

"The Galactic Republic of Planets is at peace and there are no threats for the foreseeable future. And yet the feelings of foreboding from the enemy that lies in the dark are growing stronger and I feel that I have to be there to face them when they arrive, to defend this Republic that I helped to create." James once again expressed the reasoning that had led to this action. Although they would most likely come out of cryostasis once or twice to accomplish some small task, he had after all scheduled one such thawing for himself, he and most of his companions would remain in cryostasis for around 4000 years to meet the enemy that lay in the dark head on.

"I know my friend" Visas replied "and it was I who volunteered to stay behind and to continue to grow and lead the Astarii Order. I will watch over it for you and I will make you proud. Make you glad that you spared me that day aboard the Ebon Hawk." She leaned in closer as she closed the lid, "It is a kinder death than I had envisaged, as always, my life for yours, good bye James.

The lid closed and the cryotube activated. Leaving her sleeping friends behind Visas Marr left the inner sanctuary and returned to the council chamber. She would be remembered as one of the wisest Grand Masters the Astarii Order had ever had.

* * *

**The Declaration of Principles**

We the people of the Galactic Republic of Planets do solemnly swear that we will uphold the principals of this declaration

We will uphold the principle that no race that faces slavery or extinction shall stand alone

We will uphold the principle that all races are equal

We will uphold the principle that all are equal before the law

We will uphold the principle that we will speak for those that cannot speak for themselves

We will uphold the principle that we will defend those who cannot defend themselves

We will uphold the principle that the Republic governs for the good of all

We will uphold the principle that an attack on one is an attack on all

We will uphold the principle that we speak with one voice

We will uphold the principle that the strong will not be allowed to oppress the weak

These are the principles of the Galactic Republic of Planets and we will uphold them as long as we live

* * *

*****

This idea of life members who are not career politicians to provide valuable experience to government comes from the British House of Lords. Wikipedia is surprisingly accurate and informative if you want to know more though I made up the method of selection myself.

**

Think of a kind of amalgamation of the United States and the European Union

*******

Just look at the US, UK and others national dept. Well over 100% of the entire economy's output in a year. Many countries have effectively been living off the national credit card for decades. When the Weimar Republic had that happen (Germany) a wheelbarrow full of million mark notes would not by a cup of tea and wages didn't rise very fast. This is my way around it and I wouldn't mind if it was actually implemented in real life.

****

Rivendell in Google images gives the look of the elven city which is what I imagine my capitol to look like. Industrial and financial sectors should of course follow the form follows function guide and be traditional cities but capitols are showpieces and should be beautiful and inspire awe and respect in visitors. Something that architects of most modern capitols tend to forget. Washington DC's Greek/Roman look and Westminster palace in London are classic examples of capitols designed to impress at the expense of function.

*****

The great seal of the Republic is my avatar on my profile page so I haven't described it in the chapter.


	9. Chapter 9 Recrutiment and Growth

I own none of the TV, movies, books or games mentioned

Galaxy maps are available on request. Just private message me your email address. I highly recommend it as the description of the Star Wars territory is hard to visualize. Unfortunately no Stargate galaxy map exists.

* * *

I just couldn't leave Anakin to his fate in this. After all the pressure the Jedi put him under and all the manipulations Palpatine put him through it always makes me feel so sorry for him. If some one had been there for him maybe he wouldn't have turned so I'm changing it. Don't worry only two more chapters until Stargate appears!

* * *

**Chapter 9 Recruitment and Growth**

**1929 – Egypt**

Catherine Langford skipped around in the sand of the Giza plateau admiring the necklace that her father had given her. Her father was an eminent Egyptologist and had been coming to Egypt for many years to dig and discover the secrets of the Pharaohs but this site was more interesting than any that had been found before. She had been with him and had seen how excited her father had been when he discovered the cover stones sealing away a 'doorway to heaven'. Catherine looked up as something cast a shadow on her, and to her dying day she would never forget the sight of the Stargate greeting the Sun once more.

* * *

**46 years ago – Astarii Temple**

Grand Master Bylar Crais, a Sebacean, looked around the assembled Astarii council. The council chamber was housed at the top of the Blue Tower, the highest point in the city of Rivendell and was a rectangular room made of white marble with gold veins in it. The part of the circular tower not part of the chamber took the form of a balcony made of blue firestone that ran around the outside of the chamber and was a accessible by double doors to the left and right. Three columns on either side and one at the opposite end to Bylar produced ten shallow alcoves in which the chairs of the other council members were placed. Made of dark mahogany wood with silver highlights and high backed all were currently occupied. At the head of the room on a slightly raised dais Bylar sat in the Grand Masters chair which was made of white marble with blue and silver highlights, overhead the stained glass ceiling cast beautiful patterns of every colour in the spectrum over the members of the council who were all looking at him with mild curiosity.

"I asked you all to stay here after our normal business has been colluded because I believe James Koren's first set of conditions has been met" Crais said The council promptly started whispering excitedly amongst themselves. Although they all knew that James Koren was just a man and not any kind of superhero no member of the Republic could fail to be impressed with the human and his companions. He was after all the first signing name on the Founding Charter of the Galactic Republic of Planets, founder of the Astarii Order and trainer of Grand Master Visas Marr, to actually meet him was a honour that many of the council had never dared to hope for.

"What circumstances are these Master Bylar? Questioned Master Ki Adi Mundi

"It was predicted in the Heart of Malachor V that the Galactic Republic would fall around about this time and as we all know the clone wars are raging and the Galactic Republic becomes more authoritarian by the day. I think we can all agree that this is happening? That the Galactic Empire will soon be born?" there were nods around the council chamber as Bylar continued "It was also predicted that the Jedi, rather than face up to their responsibilities, would find amongst their number a 'Chosen One' that they could safely decide has to save them because their not going to give up their hypocrisy to do it." Again their were nods around the council chamber. Though this knowledge was not commonly available the Astarii Council was one of the bodies that had access to it. Bylar continued "We all agree that the Hero With No Fear Anakin Skywalker is this chosen one and that he will eventually fall victim to the Siths manipulations. James Koren asked that once we knew what was most likely to cause the fall of the chosen one we would decide if he was worth offering the chance to leave the Jedi and come here rather than stay and fall victim to the Sith, and if he was to awaken him to make the offer."

The council now abandoned any attempt at decorum and began excitedly talking amongst themselves, Bylar spoke over them "The Intelligence Directorate believes that they have found Skywalkers Achilles heel and have sent the disrupter to report it to us." The council quietened down wanting to appear dignified before the disruptor. In the centre of the room The circle divided into 14 equal sections grated as the sections separated and lowered to form a spiral staircase leading down to the floor of the level below.

* * *

**Astarii Council Waiting Room**

Peacekeeper Disrupter 957 had been resting in one of the large blue armchairs scattered around the room but leaped to his feet when he heard the grinding sound that accompanied the activation of the staircase. "Right" he thought as he ascended the stairs into the council chamber "Just keep your nerves under control and make your report. There is nothing to worry about, you've survived decades on Coruscant in a role that no one would suspect at the centre of a spy web no one knows about. After that dealing with the Astarii Council should be easy." As the staircase closed behind him he moved to stand in the circle and tried to keep a smile off his face at the thought that the council could quite literally drop him out of sight if they didn't like his report.

"Ah disrupter 957 I believe you have some news for us?" Grand Master Crais asked

Disrupter 957 turned to face the Grand Master "Yes Grand Master Crais. Anakin Skywalker has always had great difficulty adhering to the Jedi code. This is not to say that he is Sith by any means but he is far more in touch with his emotions than the Jedi allow. He was utterly devoted to his mother and when he wasn't allowed to go and rescue her when he felt she was in danger is faith in the Jedi took a large blow. This was only made worse as when he disobeyed orders and went to rescue her only to find out he was to late and have her die in his arms. Soon after he married Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo and the Senator is now pregnant with his child. It is my belief that the Sith will play on those two as there is little that a husband and father would not do to save his wife and child"

"Well we're defiantly going to have to wake James up" Bylar thought "Thank you disrupter 957. You may depart"

Relieved, Disrupter 957, better known as Dex, left the council chamber to head back to Coruscant and his diner.

* * *

**Two days later – Inner Sanctuary**

James Koren felt himself floating back to awareness. Opening his eyes he flinched at the bright light that the healer checking him over was shining in his eyes. "I do wish they wouldn't do that" he thought repeating the thoughts of millions of patients galaxy wide. He sat up and looked around.

"Welcome back Grand Master" Bylar Crais said "How are you feeling?"

"Like someone who's just been on an all night all Tarisian Ale drinking binge" James replied putting on the cream boots, leggings and tunic with gold embroidery the other man had handed him. "Who are you if you don't mind me asking? And why have I been woken up? I need my beauty sleep you know" James joked as he finished dressing by putting on the silver belt with a braid pattern and a pentagram buckle.

"He is as down to earth and humorous as Visas Marr's journal describes him" Bylar thought and would admit he was pleasantly surprised. "I am Grand Master Bylar Crais and you wished to be awoken if the Astarii Council determined that the Jedi's 'Chosen One' deserved a chance to escape that role" Crais answered. Seeing the questioning look James was directing at his attire Bylar quickly added "The cream, leggings, tunic, boots and silver belt are now the standard clothing for all Astarii when they do not need to wear armour. The belt, boots and leggings are standard, the embroidery on the tunic is gold, emerald or sapphire depending on your calling and the amount of embroidery shows your rank with apprentices having none, as they do not yet know their calling, and getting more elaborate from there.

James nodded approvingly liking the look of the new attire "well then Grand Master" he said "perhaps we can stop off at the mess hall and grab some coffee and chocolate and then you can fill me in on what has been happening"

* * *

**Commercial freighter en rout to Coruscant**

James Koren sat surrounded by data pads trying to catch up on the things that had changed while he had been asleep. Reading the last change to the Astarii Order, that members did not chose their calling until they had finished their apprenticeship upon which they spent their first few years as a padawan with a knight or a master to learn things specific to their calling, he nodded in approval and put down the pad. "That change has been for the best" James thought to himself "we didn't make it as it reminded us to much of the Jedi but it has increased the success rate and the Astarii Order is well established. Not limiting the masters and knights to one padawan and training apprentices in groups as they are already adults has helped us grow. While there are only 10,000 Jedi there are 300,000 Astarii, a level I never dared hope we could achieve."

Sitting back and taking a sip of his sugared Latté James reached for the next pad and nearly spewed the sip back out. "We are up to several hundred thousand systems??!!! How? I'm sure we only had six hundred last time I looked" After recovering from that little shock he continued down the pad "So Bao Dur is awake and helping to completely redesign the Peacekeeper fleet is he?" he thought to himself "Well it must be something good if its relegating all the previous designs to system patrol or being sold off after stripping their weaponry. I'll have to get the full story from him when we all wake up together. It wont be many more decades, the uneasiness from the enemy that lies in the dark is almost overpowering now." Putting aside those thoughts James put down the pad and went in search of more coffee.

* * *

**Dex's Diner – Coruscant**

Jedi Knight and Chosen One Anakin Skywalker walked into Dex's diner. "I wonder what my old friend wants" he thought "It is very unusual for him to contact me, even more so that he be so insistent that I come down. Hopefully it wont take to long. I want to have some time with Padme before we go to sleep, the times I can get away from the temple to be with her are already to rare as Obi Wan has been suspicious lately." Inwardly Anakin also glad of the distraction as he was still reeling from the news that Padme was having a baby, and despite what he had said to her he didn't know what to do.

"Anakin" Dex said pulling him into a hug "come and sit down with me, there's something I have to talk to you about." Taking him to the private booth that Anakin frequently used to escape his admirers Dex sat down opposite him. "Anakin how long have we been friends?" Dex asked

"Since I first came to Coruscant when I was nine" Anakin replied suspiciously "What's all this about Dex"

"Anakin" Dex began gently "I am not just a diners cook. I was sent here by my government to gather information for them and report back. Now don't look at me like that, all governments do it, even your Galactic Republic"

Anakin had to grudgingly agree there "Alright, and seeing as I have never told you anything useful and all the times you've helped me out I guess I can understand that. But why tell me this?"

"Because several things have come to my notice through my informants" Dex replied "I've been your friend for most of your life, I was always here for you when Obi Wan was to strict or when you came here in tears missing you mum. So you can tell how upset I was when I didn't get an invitation to your wedding."

Anakin rocked back in shock "How do you know about that" he hissed

"I have my sources" Dex replied "Don't worry I'm not going to tell anyone, hell I've been covering up for you for months when Obi Wan comes here asking where you keep disappearing to."

Anakin's panic deepened "Obi Wan's been looking for me?!" he panicked

"Relax Anakin, I've had him running around Coruscants red light district for the last six months. I haven't given you up, and I've kept you safe from those trying to find out." Dex said placing a hand on Anakin's arm to try to calm him.

All at once Anakin felt like the nine year old missing his mother again, he at last realised what Dex had done for him, protecting him from the Jedi who would try to separate him and Padme. He reached out to hug his old friend. "Thanks Dex" he whispered.

After a few minuets Anakin ended the embrace. "Can I tell him?" He thought "he's helped me keep my marriage secret and I so need advice right now" "Dex" he said hesitatingly "Padme's pregnant, we're going to have a baby and I don't know what to do. We can't keep it secret for much longer and I just don't know what to do"

Anakin had started to panic again so Dex calmed him down before answering. "Anakin" he said "Thank you for telling me, I've known for a little while of course but I figured out that you couldn't keep it a secret for much longer so I called in a few favours. There's someone I would like you to meet, Now he's completely trustworthy and he may be able to help you. Would you like to meet with him? Dex asked

Anakin thought for a moment. "Dex has been my best friend since I arrived here, he's helped me keep secrets and has never done anything to harm me, and at this point I need any suggestions at all." "Yes Dex" Anakin answered "I will"

* * *

**4 days later – 500 Republica**

Anakin was pacing nervously across the living area of his wife' s apartment. He was still very unhappy letting this mysterious man have dinner with his pregnant wife before meeting him first but the fact that he was one of the most powerful Jedi in existence and that Dex had vouched for him helped to alleviate his fears enough to allow this meeting.

The rant said pregnant wife had gone on about him making unilateral decisions hadn't had any effect on this. Nope none at all.

Padme had finished arranging the dinner table and stopping 3PO from burning the dinner and was now watching her husband pace with a great deal of exasperation. "Anakin" she exclaimed "will you please stop pacing. You are going to wear a hole in the floor."

"Sorry" Anakin replied sheepishly "I'm just a little nervous"

"Senator" Captain Typho said from the door. "Your guest has arrived"

"Thank you Captain, show him in" Padme replied

Captain Typho stood aside from the door to allow their visitor entrance. Looking to be in his mid to late 20s their visitor was human with shoulder length wavy brown hair, full red lips, ice blue eyes and the ocular enhancers known as glasses. He was wearing cream boots and leggings with a cream tunic heavily embroidered with gold and a silver belt. In all he looked perfectly at home in the apartment of a senator and Padme silently thanked him for not arousing suspicion. "We will be right outside my lady" Captain Typho said, his tone as much a warning to the visitor as a reassurance to the senator. Padme noticed that the visitor inclined his head in response "Good" she thought "he is perceptive, that counts in his favour"

James Koren took in the attractive apartment and the attractive couple "To bad Anakin's married" he thought "otherwise I'd be temped to jump him right here" He was brought back to the present by Senator Amidala approaching and offering her hand.

"Welcome" Padme said "I am Padme and this is my husband Anakin" "A charmer to" she thought as visitor kissed her hand before shaking her husbands

"I am James" he replied. I believe we have much to discuss.

After pleasant small talk over dinner the little group had moved to the sitting area. James was on one sofa with Anakin and Padme on the other facing him and the coffee table between them.

"So what is it you wished to talk to us about" Padme asked diplomatically allowing James to set the initial playing field as she did all her political opponents

"As I understand it the main problem you have is the fact that Anakin is a Jedi" James said "Jedi are forbidden to marry or have children and you do not wish for him to give up the role that he has sacrificed so much for. Unfortunately the baby has put you in a bit of a bind. Have you, senator Amidala, heard of the Galactic Republic of Planets?"

"Yes" Padme replied thoughtfully "I am one of the few that have. A isolationist power in the unknown regions it is mostly pure rumour to those who don't have the connections. This is the government you represent?"

"Yes" James replied and proceeded to give the basic information on the workings of the Republic. "But the most important thing for the two of you is that the Galactic Republic of Planets is protected by an order of force users, the Astarii. Splitting from the Jedi long ago the Astarii remained loyal to the light side but they do things very differently to the Jedi, two of which will be very important to you. First no one is accepted for training before the age of 18 allowing Astarii to gain experience of life before deciding that they want to protect it and second, the Astarii Orders allows its members to marry and have children. If he wishes it Anakin can openly be a husband and father and still protect life and democracy as a Knight of the Astarii Order and the light side of the force"

Across from him Anakin and Padme had gone into shock. Many more questions were asked that night.

* * *

**One week later – Jedi Temple Archives**

"I cannot believe they asked me to spy on the Chancellor" Anakin seethed "How could they do this to me? Asking me to spy on one of my friends? And Obi Wan saying he is on my side, HA!, he doesn't know I have hacked the councils data records. He voted yes." Anakin would remain in the archives for hours. When Obi Wan checked the terminal later he saw that Anakin had been reading the history of other civilisations. A bit out of character but nothing that would put unsuitable thoughts into the chosen ones head. Had he read the entire list he would have found one name to cause him great concern. Astarii.

* * *

**Republic Citadel – Rivendell **

Sitting in the visitors gallery the disguised Padme Amidala watched the General Assembly debate. She was very impressed as it appeared that ruthless policing and publication of every donation, expenses claim and call kept most representatives as honest as you could expect a politician to be. She had also spent the last few days listening in on the people and asking questions about the Astarii. As she boarded the ship back to Coruscant she had made her decision. The Jedi deserved none of Anakin's loyalty and he had served the Republic enough. Here they could be free and Anakin could be a father and an Astarii. "I am going to do my level best to convince him to take the offer" she thought as her ship took off. Little did she know how easy that would be.

* * *

**Six months later – Astarii Temple **

Anakin Skywalker stood resplendent in his cream tunic with sapphire embroidery showing his level of knight. In his arms he held his son Luke, his wife Padme stood next to him with their daughter Leia. Together they lifted the twins up to the cryotube. "Say hello to your godfather" Padme said "Uncle James is the man who let us escape here so that we could have you two with us together and we could never be separated" "It almost makes up for the feelings of lust he projects whenever he sees me" Anakin teased with a grin on his face. Padme hit him with her free hand.

* * *

**Coruscant**

THE REPUBLIC WILL BE REORGANISED INTO THE FRIST GALACTIC EMPIRE! FOR A SAFE AND SECURE SOCITY!


	10. Chapter 10 The Road to War

I own none of the TV, movies, books or games mentioned

Reviews are excellent and make me update faster even if their not totally positive

Galaxy maps are available on request. Just PM me

* * *

**SHIP GRAPHICS – NEW AND WILL BE GRP SHIPS FOR THE REST OF THE STORY **

I'm not going to spend time describing the ships due to the reviews from chapter 3. Therefore taking a look at these are the only way to know what they look like though imagining some listed changes is also needed. The ships are halo and Freespace 2 designs.

**COMMAND CARRIER** – imagine jet black hull, lose UNSC logo, lose the piece of hull below it.

http://brokenlinestudios . net / wp-content / gallery / simple / ships / aeolus . png

**CRUISERS **– Imagine jet black hull, lose the pods on the sides and extend the amour plate around the holes in the hull

http://brokenlinestudios . net / wp-content / gallery / simple / ships / hercules . png

**FRIGATE** – imagine jet black hull and lose the extra bit of hull under the bow. Turbolasers more or less where the current guns are.

http://brokenlinestudios . net / wp-content / gallery / simple / ships / wolfclad . png

**FIGHTERS: **

**Howitzer Bomber**

http://www . hard-light . net / wiki / index . php / GTB_Zeus

**Tsunami Space Superiority Figher **imagine same armour as howitzer, no glowy bits

http://www . hard-light . net / wiki / index . php / GTF_Erinyes

**Tornado Interceptor **lose the underside fins

http://www . hard-light . net / wiki / index . php / GTF_Perseus

**Shadow Stealth Fighter **lose the glowy bits

http://www . hard-light . net / wiki / index . php / GTF_Pegasus

* * *

Yes the GRP and Stargate Earth will meet

The main races of the GRP that will be making an appearance are Sebaceans, Dilgar and Human. Eidelons, Minbari and Vasudans will make some appearances as well. The species in the GRP can be assumed to be representatives of most star wars races from colonization and most Farscape races through joining directly.

* * *

**Chapter 10 The Road to War**

**1945 – United States**

Dressed in a diving suit Ernest Littlefield walked towards the pool of water like substance that had appeared inside the ring of the Doorway to Heaven "I knew I was right" he thought "The symbols are destinations not a combination, when I prove it Catherine will be so impressed" Shortly after he went through the doorway closed leaving the air hose and guide rope cut clean off at the ring. There was no sign of Ernest Littlefield.

* * *

**40 years ago – Phu**

Mon Mothma waited nervously with her friends and colleagues Bail Organa and Garm Bel Iblis on the small planet of Phu off the Rimma Trade Route near Fondor. They had come here to seek help in their fight to restore the Republic from the Empire that Palpatine had corrupted it into. After signing the Corellian Treaty that merged their three rebel groups into one she had been elected leader and had been left with the task of trying to finance and build a full scale rebellion from scratch. To that end she had searched for her and Bails old friend Padme Amidala who had fled the Republic in its final years with her husband Anakin Skywalker while pregnant with their child. "While I do not begrudge her the happiness she has no doubt earned" Mon thought "The rebellion needs all the help it can get right now, where ever Padme found refuge they may be able to help us. This planet certainly seems old and industrialized enough to provide at least a little aid."

Bel Iblis mirrored her thoughts "If Padme's government has a couple more planets like these we might be able to get a few more fighters, maybe even enough money for a couple of blockade runners or at least the equivalent ship that their shipyards produce" he mused aloud

"Maybe but we shouldn't press them to hard" Bail Organa said "If they give us all that now then they may be unwilling to negotiate again later. Even shipyards capable of producing nothing larger than blockade runners, which is what seems to be here, will be a massive boon if we can convince them to join once we get the Rebellion up and running"

"Bail is right we must think beyond the immediate" Mon Mothma agreed, she was clearly pained by the fact that a handful of squadrons and a couple of blockade runners would provide a large boost to the Rebellions armed forces when most core worlds would regard them as a police force.

"Senator Mothma, Senator Organa. Senator Iblis, if you would come this way, Representative Amidala will see you now" The guard and guide that had introduced himself as a Peacekeeper ushered them into a room with a conference table in the centre. There were three chairs on either side and the side opposite was already filled.

"She looks well" Mon Mothma thought to herself "I never noticed what a strain the final years of the Republic and a hidden marriage and pregnancy had put on her until they were gone." She walked over to the table and took the centre seat on the free side "Padme" she said "It's nice to see you again. How are you?"

"I'm well thank you Mon, its nice to see you all again to, yes even you Garm" Padme smiled as she sat back down and gestured to her left and right. "This is Warmaster Marrik, Warmaster is the title given to the highest ranked military officer and they are in charge of all aspects of the Peacekeepers and any campaigns or wars, and Astarii Grand Master Bylar Crais" Padme had barely finished the introductions when the good hearted but militant and abrasive Garm Bel Iblis spoke up

"You know Kenobi and his new padawan say that's why were in this mess? Because the Astarii stole the Chosen One and that they are Sith in everything but name?"

Mon Mothma held her breath "If he destroys these negotiations before they even begin then I will put him out an airlock" she vowed to herself

"Ah Obi Wan, a man I am not sorry to see is absent" Padme replied, she knew that this was not a totally serious question from Bel Iblis as otherwise, given his personality, he would have screamed it "He is entitled to his opinion of course but I have never known you to lack an opinion Garm. Do you think that is what happened? If so why are you here? Anakin will not be returning if that is your objective" Padme let her protectiveness leak through her political mask on that last sentence.

Bel Iblis smiled "Not a chance" he said "There is no such thing as destiny, the founding principle of democracy is that the future is what we make it. No the Jedi are necessary as Palpatine is a Sith but I don't trust them, not any more" Bel Iblis could see his reactions mirrored on the face of his fellow senators. Kenobi's constant rails against the Astarii and Anakin abandoning his duty had destroyed the credibility of the Jedi in their minds. Anakin had done more to save the Republic than anyone, and if he finally decided to put his wife and children first then in Garm's view it was about dam time. The Jedi still refused to acknowledge that it was their unreasonable rules and hypocritical attitudes that had driven Anakin away and been their own downfall. They still blamed anyone but themselves.

With that crisis averted Bail Organa spoke up "Padme we know that you have joined the Galactic Republic of Planets and though we know little about it we have come to ask you if you would get us an audience to state our case for aid. I can see that that has already been accomplished, I should have known you wouldn't stay out of politics for long" he smiled.

Padme engaged in a little small talk with her old friends and political allies before she began describing the Republic. "The Galactic Republic of Planets currently centres around the Byss Commerce Route that extends from the Ssi Ruuk star cluster in the Outer Rim passed the key worlds of Vasuda and Arnessk and the Capitol, Polaris, before passing though the N'zoth system in the Knornacht cluster and ending at Byss in the Deep Core. The GRP's borders follow these border worlds, Bakura, Ceria, Phu, Khomm, Byss, and Galantos before heading back out to the Outer Rim passing just under the U in Unknown Regions on most Imperial Maps

Mon Mothma was in shock "But that makes you second in size only to the Empire" she gasped

"Unfortunately Mon" Bel Iblis said "That's a distant second. That sort of territory will hold several hundred thousand colonisable planets but the Empire controls millions. Direct military aid is out of the question unless we wish to bring the Imperial Fleet down on these peoples heads."

Mon Mothma practically collapsed in disappointment

"Its good that you brought that up" Warmaster Marrik said "Direct military aid is out of the question but we will provide you with other benefits. If you can kill Palpatine then the Intelligence Directorate will order it's disrupters to assassinate Yasane Isard, State Prestage and assorted Grand Moffs, Grand Admirals etc.. that would take control. That should help you bring down the Empire by ensuring that no one is left to lead it. To aid in killing Palpatine and to give you a fighting chance against the small detachments of the Imperial Fleet you will no doubt encounter on a regular basis we are prepared to loan money and sell old capitol ships being decommissioned due to our current fleet upgrade program. You will have to rearm them as their weapons have been stripped but weapons are easier to get hold of that capitol ship hulls."

"Why?" Mon Mothma managed to choke out

Bylar Crais answered her "No Race facing slavery or extinction shall stand alone – Declaration of Principles of the Galactic Republic of Planets. Shall we begin negotiations on the details?

The three senators could only nod. They had arrived hoping to gain a few fighters and a little money. It seems that they would be leaving with a lot more than that.

* * *

**19 years later – Endor **

Jedi Knight Luke Starkiller had been promised that he was the illegitimate son of Anakin Skywalker by his masters, Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda. This was completely untrue but he didn't know that and so was convinced that he was the Chosen One destined to bring balance to the galaxy. That hadn't stopped him fleeing Emperor Palpatine in fear and left him desperately trying to escape the Death Star. He had missed out on the destruction of the first one as Wedge Antilles took the shot but if he could get away from this one and the Rebellion destroyed it he could still claim he killed the Emperor, he could still make sure that the Jedi got the respect and power they deserved for protecting the galaxy from the Evil Sith and Despicable Astarii. The fact that he was running in piss stained robes rather than standing and fighting to the death as an Astarii or even a Jedi of old would have done did not register in his mind.

The Death Star exploded as he landed his captured shuttle on one of the old Peacekeeper Command Carriers. Greeted as a hero he felt sure that the force was with him, no one would ever know that the only thing he did to the Emperor was give him a reason for a good laugh.

* * *

**21 years later – Astarii Council Chamber**

Astarii Grand Master James Koren looked around at his companions who were assembled together for the first time in 4,000 years. After the Yuuzhan Vong scored their devastating victory at Sernpidal the Astarii Council had recognized that the enemy that lies in the dark had at last arrived and had awoken them from stasis. To his great annoyance they had also disbanded themselves and held re-elections for the council which had resulted in him being named Grand Master. Again. "At least" James thought smugly "I dragged Atton down with me" Atton Rand and Bylar Crais had been elected as the two other members for life. Bao Dur activated the holo projector to brief them all on the new ships and weapons causing James to pay attention at last.

"The main cause of the fleet redesign was the entry of the Vasudans into the GRP" Bao Dur said softly. They provided us with four pieces of technology that the High Command felt was worth the expense. The first is a new type of amour known as collapsed-core molybdenum. This is exceedingly dense and is almost four times as effective as regular amour."

"That will be a great benefit given the weakness of our defence screens" Brianna said approvingly "I see it also retains it's jet black colour making even visual targeting difficult, added to the Minbari stealth fields that throw off their aim our ships should now be at least as durable as their counterparts" That got approving looks around the table. The weakness of the defence screens and armour on Peacekeeper warships when compared to Republic designs had been a concern since the founding of the GRP.

"The new weapons help us in that regard as well" Bao Dur said "Using the Subach HL7 as a base we have enhanced the standard turbolaser to almost triple its previous rate of fire. Unfortunately that comes at the cost of their being only one type and half the firepower of the standard turbolaser. It does give the bolt a nice purple glow though" Bao Dur said the last while smiling at James

"Alright so I like purple, get over it already" he replied good naturedly "having a turbolaser that fires three times as fast at half the power is still a net gain and will be a boon"

"The flack gun*" Bao Dur continued "was a kick in the teeth for the High Command, to discover that exploding metal shells created a barrier far more effective than simple laser cannons like those on the lancer frigate was an unwelcome shock"

"I can imagine" James replied "It's pre space fight technology but if it works the small size of the guns and ammunition will make the anti fighter and missile defences of our ships unparalleled by anything in service anywhere"

"That's probably what got the High Command to swallow their pride and order the redesign" Atton remarked

"The last is the Ion beam" Bao Dur said "Vasudan beam cannons were unusable but they allowed us to complete the hybridisation of the Minbari neutron beam and the ion cannon. The new 'Ion Beam' can fire once every two minuets and will cause significant shield damage. Its true potential however is on unshielded targets, there the light versions on the new cruisers can cut deep gouges into the ship and cut projections like a Star Destroyers command tower right off. The heavy version on the Command Carriers will simply cut almost any ship in half"

There were many smiles and muffled laughs at Bao Dur's statement "They never learn that a command centre should be buried in the very centre of the ship to protect it. Even shielded ships can lose shields or be hit before they can get them up, I can't wait to see some flyboys bridge shorn off his ship" Atton laughed "that will teach them to design a ship that basically has a giant bull's-eye painted on saying 'aim here for best shot at captain'"

"The new ships?" James asked after getting his laughter under control

"The new ships almost all take a octahedral cylinder shape to house the ion beam" Bao Dur said "The new cruisers look exactly the same as they differ only in size and armament. This is the new Command Carrier, Vengeance class, you can quite clearly see the ion beam emitter on her bow"

"What are those stick outy bits and rectangular holes on her sides" Atton asked

"Elegant as always Atton" Bao Dur replied wiry "The 'sticky outy bits' are runways to help pilots land when the carrier is performing battle manuvers, the rectangles contain four catapult launch tubes each"

"4 fighters to a wing 4 wings to a squadron" Mira observed respectfully "These new Command Carriers can launch two full squadrons in under 10 seconds if their already at battle stations and additional 2 squadrons every 30 seconds after that. She can have her entire fighter compliment in the air while most other ships will still be completing their primary launches"

Bao Dur passed around several pads "These are the size, armament and fighter compliment of the new ships" Bao Dur said "The same stats for the Executor Super Star Destroyers and Imperial II Star Destroyers are provided for comparison.

Silence fell as everyone pursued their pads. The ships were listed in order of strength

* * *

**Executor Class Super Star Destroyer**

12 km bow to stern

1500 turbolasers

500 ion cannons

300 torpedo launchers

40 squadrons

* * *

**Vengeance Class Command Carrier **

6 km bow to stern

1 heavy ion beam – spinal mount

450 HL7 Turbolasers

120 Flack Guns

20 squadrons

50,000 Crew – 5,000 Space Marines

* * *

**Imperial II Star Destroyer**

1.6 km bow to stern

100 turbolasers

20 ion cannons

18 squadrons

37,000 Crew – 9,700 Stormtroopers

* * *

**Firestorm Class Heavy Cruiser**

1.2 km bow to stern

1 Ion beam – spinal mount

75 HL7 turbolasers

45 Flack guns

6 squadrons

10,000 Crew – 1,000 Space Marines

* * *

**Icestorm Class Light Cruiser**

800 meters bow to stern

1 ion beam – spinal mount

50 HL7 turbolasers

20 Flack Guns

3 squadrons

8,000 Crew – 800 Space Marines

* * *

**Hurricane Class Escort Frigate**

100 meters bow to stern

8 HL7 turbolasers

20 Flack Guns

250 Crew – 25 Space Marines

* * *

"Impressive" James noted "The tech advantage our ships enjoy mean that all except the Command Carrier can go up against their counterparts one on one, and their smaller size and armament mean we can afford to construct and supply far more of them. I mean the Empire at its height had only a couple of dozen Super Star Destroyers where as we have thousands of Command Carriers, hundreds of thousands of Heavy Cruisers and millions of Light Cruisers"**

"What about strike craft?" Mira asked

"All have the same armour as the ships" Bao Dur replied "Also a heavily modified defence screen/shield too power hungry, due to exponential power increases with size, for the ships has been installed on the four strike craft classes." Bao Dur passed round another set of pads

* * *

**Howitzer Class Bomber**

4 gun mounts (2 types)

4 missile banks class 1 and 2 missiles and bombs loadable

Heavy shields

Heavy armour

Medium manuverablility

Medium speed

1 Missile bank can hold one of the following… 15 Class 1 Missiles / 50 Class 2 Missiles / 8 Cyclops Torpedoes / 4 Helios Torpedoes

* * *

**Tsunami Class Space Superiority Fighter**

8 gun mounts (3 types)

4 missile banks class 1 and 2 missiles loadable

Heavy shields

Medium armour

Good manuverablility

Good speed

1 Missile bank can hold one of the following… 15 Class 1 Missiles / 50 Class 2 Missiles

* * *

**Tornado Class Interceptor**

6 gun mounts (2 types)

2 missile banks class 1 and 2 missiles loadable

Medium shields

Light armour

Very good manuverablility

Excellent speed

1 Missile bank can hold one of the following… 15 Class 1 Missiles / 50 Class 2 Missiles

* * *

**Shadow Class Stealth Fighter**

2 gun mounts (1 type)

2 missile banks class 1 and 2 missiles loadable, very limited storage.

Light shields

Minimal armour

Unsurpassed manuverablility

Excellent speed

Stealth system

1 Missile bank can hold one of the following… 5 Class 1 Missiles / 16 Class 2 Missiles

* * *

Atton looked down in awe at the strike craft stats. "We already had strike craft superiority" he exclaimed "with these any opposing strike craft in the galaxy won't last longer than 30 seconds"

"We have a chance" Mical whispered "At last we have a chance to win if it comes to war"

"We're going to need it" James replied looking at the message that had just been placed in his hand, "The Yuuzhan Vong have attacked Ceria and Bakura. Their not hiding anymore."

* * *

*Think Battlestar Galactica type flack guns

** In cannon 500,000 capitol ships defend Coruscant, even if it's their capitol its just one world and that shows you how many ships the Star Wars galaxy has.

Reviewing takes 30 seconds. Please do so, I like to get conformation that people are actually reading this and I'm not just writing to myself


	11. Chapter 11 Blood and Iron

I own none of the TV, movies, books or games mentioned

Galaxy maps are available on request. Just private message me or request one in a review. I highly recommend it for the description of the territory at the end of this chapter is a little bit difficult to visualise unfortunately.

* * *

**Review Responses**

The GRP doesn't grab Imperial designs because standard Imperial shields/turbolasers are incompatible with the peacekeeper tech on which the entire fleet is based. The HL7 turbolasers address the weapons problem but the only shield/defence screen hybrid that has been produced is to power hungry for the capitol ships as its power requirements increase exponentially with size. It has however been installed on the fighters making them far better protected than any others out there.

Empire space fractured into warlords, independent sectors, hutts, and what will become the Imperial Remnant. The GRP didn't conquer it because the Declaration of Principals forbids wars of conquest. A limited number of border worlds can be assumed to have joined voluntarily. The New Republic continues as in cannon gradually absorbing the warlords and surviving various crises etc…

The Jedi mostly died in Order 66 as in cannon. The only major change is that Palpatine lead the 501st into the temple personally and Obi wan and Yoda trained Luke Starkiller instead. Continuing as in cannon except they are even more distrusted and hated by the people of the New Republic than ever, they are only kept around to defend from the Sith and as a counter to the Astarii. Very few in the government trust them any more.

Wikipedia is a good resource for a very quick overview up to this point and how cannon ends the war. Look up New Republic, New Jedi Order and Yuuzhan Vong War if you want to know more.

* * *

**Chapter 11 Blood and Iron**

**4 years ago – Abydos**

Supreme System Lord Ra was having a very bad day. After landing on his mining world of Abydos to collect more naquada he had discovered the humans from the first world were here and that they had advanced far enough to harness the power of the atom. His efforts to suppress them had failed and yet another world had now rebelled and pushed him off it, however the worst part of his day was the tactical nuclear warhead that had just been ringed up to his throne room. Ra had just enough time to scream before the device detonated.

Below Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr Daniel Jackson looked up at the new star that briefly appeared in orbit before joining in the celebrations

* * *

**One Year Later – Republic Citadel **

The Security Council sat in silence as Grand Master James Koren paced in front of the semicircular desk that the remaining members occupied

"There can be no doubt" He said "That the war is not going well. Our fixed defences and sector defence fleets are taking a pounding and the Three Strike Fleets are in full retreat after our disastrous attempt at a counter attack. This is why I have called this meeting, several days ago disturbed by the course the war was taking Vasudan Emperor Konsu II came to me with a proposal"

He moved back behind the desk before activating the holoemitter in the centre of the semicircle

"Members of the Security Council. This is Project Arcturus"

* * *

**One Year Later – Republic Citadel**

Astarii Grand Master James Koren slammed the pad down on his part of the desk of the Security Council. Representative Dukat, of the Minbari and fellow permanent council member came over. "I thought we had successfully repelled the Yuuzhan Vongs latest attack on Ceria by intercepting them before they could penetrate to deep into the system" he said concerned

"We did" James answered bitterly "And given the state of the fixed defences all along our borders after the repeated attacks over the last two years that's defiantly a good thing. Unfortunately only 14 ships made it back to our lines"

"14" Dukat gasped "Out of 112!?"

"We can't keep taking these kind of losses" James replied "The New Republics constant 'strategic' retreats are allowing the Yuuzhan Vong to send only token forces against them and keep the pressure up on us, forcing us to spread the fleet out thinly defending the entire frontier. We can't keep this up much longer, we have to go on the offensive and give the fixed defences and sector defence fleets time to recover."

"That is easer said than done" Dukat replied "After all to maintain an offensive of that size we would need a fully functioning staging area for the First, Second and Third Strike Fleets and no system still resisting the Yuuzhan Vong has called for help, their all still in denial just like the New Republic"

"Not any more" Supreme Chancellor Padme Amidala said as she entered the room "Coruscant has just fallen to the Yuuzhan Vong, the New Republic has collapsed."

* * *

**One Week Later – Corellia**

The highest ranked members of the Corellian government looked at each other. Even deep in this government emergency bunker the feeling of despair hung like a dark cloud as it had everywhere since the Fall of Coruscant.

"There's no doubt" one said "Even if the Yuuzhan Vong stop to consolidate their position and recover their losses they are still going to take Corellia, we are the only thing spitting their territory in two. They are going to attack."

"We have nothing left to resist with" another replied "The police forces that are all the New Republic allowed us to keep are not even going to be an issue to a Yuuzan Vong invasion force and they destroyed centrepoint station after the debacle at Fondor."

"The New Republic" the third began but was cut off

"Has collapsed. The few senators that escaped have called back everything they have to defend themselves at Mon Calamari abandoning the other worlds to their fate. There is no one to help us"

The last member spoke slowly "We may have one chance. I have maintained discreet contacts with the GRP since I went there with Mon Mothma and Bail Organa in the first years of the Rebellion. They have successfully repulsed every attack that the Yuuzhan Vong have made on their territory and still have a large and well equipped fleet"

"The GRP is isolationist" another countered "To say nothing of the fact that their Command Carriers are nothing compared to the Star Destroyers. Most likely it is propaganda or they have lost so many of their inferior ships that they have none to spare"

"Perhaps, perhaps not" the first member added "But they would want something big for dispatching ships to aid us."

"Why not Corellia?" the second spoke quietly, he continued quickly before the others could scream at him "We all want the Corellian System to be independent but its just not going to be feasible for generations if ever. The GRP allows the most freedom of all the superpowers, the Corellian fleet can be re-established and we will have full home rule with the GRP controlling only foreign affairs. We can also leave at any time if we hold a referendum and the people decide to do so."

"It would provide a great incentive to aid us" the first mused "The major shipyards of the galaxy are Corellia, Kuat, Fondor, Bilbringi, Mon Calamari and Vasuda. Corellia joining the GRP would effectively double their shipbuilding capacity. But all of this is academic if they are to weak to help us."

"The ships we know are old designs that were being replaced in a fleet wide redesign the new ones seem to be resisting the Yuuzhan Vong well" Bel Iblis replied "Besides we have no other options; there is nothing left to defend us. All we can do is let the entire galaxy know that Corellia calls for aid."

* * *

**Two days later – Republic Citadel**

James Koren stood before the General Assembly to call on them to aid Corellia, he had been speaking for several minuets and was coming to the end of his speech "The entire galaxy knows that a new power is rising, that its victory is at hand, all that remains to be seen is whether that power is the Yuuzhan Vong or us. Since the founding of the Galactic Republic of Planets our guiding principle has been that no race facing extinction or slavery shall stand alone and now we are put to the test, Corellia faces extinction and Corellia calls for aid. We must uphold the principles on which this government was founded, our period of isolation is over. We move now, together, Or not at all."

All around the General Assembly applauded and cheered. The Galactic Republic of Planets was finally ready to emerge from isolation and its first act would be to find the neighbourhood bully and pick a fight.

* * *

**One week later – PKCC **_**Protector**_

Aboard the Vengeance Class Peacekeeper Command Carrier (PKCC) _Protector _the Warmaster of the Peacekeeper Fleet stood before the tactical display. With the collapse of the New Republic the Yuuzhan Vong had captured a great deal of territory which worked to the Peacekeepers advantage as the Yuuzhan Vong had to garrison it, in addition the Fall of Coruscant had inflicted heavy casualties due to the shear size of the defensive fleet, 500,000 capitol ships, and added to the fact that Yuuzhan Vong were not expecting a large force to be at Corellia and it totalled in a decision not to send their entire fleet as they surely would have if they knew that they had the chance to wipe out the GRPs entire offensive capability in one go. They were sending 120,000 ships and their fighter escorts under Warmaster Tasvong La, a large force to be certain but not their entire fleet, and it would soon meet the assembled GRP Strike Fleets totalling 80,000 warships and fighter escorts. As the Yuuzhan Vong had sent their supreme military leader, the best they had, the Peacekeepers felt that they had to respond in kind. This would not just be a battle between Yuuzhan Vong and Peacekeeper but a battle between the two best military tacticians in the galaxy. Warmaster Tasvong La and Warmaster Jha'dur

Warmaster Jha'dur took in the positions of her fleet. The combined First and Second Strike fleets were arranged in the standard GRP formation, the crescent moon, behind them the Third Strike fleet melded into the back of the moon, part of the formation but able to quickly withdraw and redeploy on her orders without compromising the integrity of the formation. Several Command Carriers and smaller ships were missing, kept in reserve for one of the many surprises that Jha'dur was planning for Tasvong La.

James Koren walked up to stand beside her. Jha'dur felt a thrill run through her at the realisation that she was standing in a place that only Sarah Andromeda had stood before. In the C&C of the Peacekeeper flagship commanding an armada that would engage in a battle to bring about the GRP's rise or total ruin. She turned to face him. "As soon as the Yuuzhan Vong Fleet drops out of hyperspace I want your Astarii to begin jamming their yammosk" she said "But I want to keep you and your battle meditation in reserve. If Tasvong La produces any surprises, which I doubt but better to be safe than sorry, we may need it to recover"

"You are unconcerned with Tasvong La's military ability?" James questioned

"No" Jha'dur replied "Just his inventiveness, he can command a campaign and a fleet very well but his tactics don't rise much above 'charge'" James found the predatory smile on Jha'durs face to be very off putting.

* * *

**Peacekeeper Tornado Class Interceptor**

Aeryn Sun was tense and alert in her Tornado class interceptor. The entire fleets strike craft had been deployed already in anticipation of the Yuuzhan Vongs arrival, and arrive they had. Already the Vong fighters were speeding forwards to meet them, interspaced with the Tsunami class space superiority fighters her interceptor squadron was equipped with the rapid firing Subach HL7. A weapon with a well balanced shield/hull damage ratio it was standard ordinance on all fighters but its main use was that unlike some more powerful weapons it was so rapid firing that it had a tendency to overwhelm the coralskippers dovin basalls and actually hit the ships. The fact that its low energy consumption allowed more energy to be diverted to shields and engines was an added bonus.

As the coralskippers approached maximum missile range Aren awaited orders from the Command Carrier, the rotating triangle on her hud clicked down before being encircled by a circle representing a full missile lock. The _Protector_ signalled, Aeryn fired.

* * *

**PKCC **_**Protector**_

It was an awe inspiring sight Jha'dur decided. Hundreds of thousands of fighter craft firing two of the Harpoon missiles with their orange trails, there had been concerns of how well the brand new missiles fuzzy logic guidance computer and high speed motor would deal with the coralskippers "But" she thought as many tiny little stars lit up the battlefield "there are apparently no problems there" the depleted uranium coating the warheads had allowed the charge to penetrate the coral armour before exploding. R and D had said that a duo of harpoons would destroy or severely damage any strike craft. They were right.

* * *

**Peacekeeper Tornado**

Aeryn carefully lined up behind another coralskipper before letting lose with her Subachs, purple pulses flew from the three gun ports either side of the cockpit to drive right through the armour of the coralskipper reducing it to fragments that bounced off her shields. Her tornado rocked with the impacts of volcano cannons on her rear shields and she cursed going into a downward spiral while shifting her shield balance so that power was taken from the other three shields and put into her aft ones "Hopefully" she thought "That will allow me to survive long enough to shake him off" She barely had time to glimpse the tsunami before two orange trails sped passed her cockpit and the harpoons punched though the forward armour of the coralskipper following her blowing it to bits. She waggled her wings in thanks before flying off and selecting another target.

* * *

**Icestorm Light Cruiser **_**Basilisk**_

Commander John Crichton stood in the C&C of his cruiser, the PKC _Basilisk_, and watched as the range between the two fleets closed. Meeting the Yuuzhan Vong in the outer system prevented civilian casualties but meant that they had nothing else to shoot at except the Peacekeeper fleet. "Status" he snapped out at his XO

"8,000 km to optimum firing range, ion beam charged, ready to fire, turbolasers charged, ready to fire" Colonel Chianna reported

The PKC _Basilisk_ continued to hurtle through space until Colonel Chianna reported that they had reached optimum firing range.

"Flagship signalling sir – open fire" his communications officer relayed

Across space the purple HL7 turbolasers of the Peacekeeper fleet lashed out against the Yuuzhan Vong cruisers and warships that immediately started firing back

The range continued to close

* * *

**PKCC **_**Protector**_

"The high fire rate of our HL7 turbolasers is indeed giving the Yuuzhan Vong defences trouble" Warmaster Jha'dur noticed with satisfaction "Several cruisers are falling out of formation already and our own collapsed-core molybdenum amour is withstanding their volcano cannon fire better than expected. Still there is no need to tempt fate and take casualties unnecessarily" "Order the Hurricane class escort frigates to lay down a full enemy suppression barrage" she ordered "Some of their shots should expend themselves on the shrapnel clouds rather than us"

Fleet wide the Hurricane Escort Frigates moved towards the front line before turning broadside on. Using special multi vector engines they were able to keep pace and at the same time line up all but 5 of their flack guns at the approaching enemy fleet. Those guns burst into life, joined by any of their brothers on the capitol ships that were pointed in the right direction, and created a shrapnel cloud in front of the fleet that began to absorb some of the incoming fire.

* * *

**Peacekeeper Tornado**

Aeryn Sun quickly sent a volley of fire from her six gun ports, each firing a pulse a second, at the duo of coralskippers chasing a tsunami. One exploded immediately but the other rolled out of the way, firing her last two harpoons she blew the fighter to pieces then took stock. She was out of missiles having expended both banks of 15 each and her shields were very weak forcing her to constantly shift power between them to stay alive. "Well here goes nothing" she thought and flew straight and slow for a few seconds, sensing easy prey a coralskipper quickly closed in but the interceptor entered a subspace vortex before it could fire

The subspace drive had been installed on all Peacekeeper strike craft instead of a hyperdrive. Though it meant that the strike craft could not leave the system they launched in without a capitol ship to carry them they could go almost anywhere within the system in seconds. "And that" Aeryn mused as she emerged from subspace 12 million kilometres from the fighting "is much more useful" all around her were hundreds of fighters all at a dead stop. Her fighter shook slightly as the workhorse class rearmament ship docked with her fighter reloading her missile magazines and recharging her shields

"Reloading complete sir, your good to go" came over the com. Aeryn activated her subspace drive and dove back into battle

* * *

**PKC **_**Basilisk **_

Commander John Crichton watched the holo display with satisfaction as the fleet entered ion beam range. Bright blue beams erupted from the front of the Icestorms and Firestorms overwhelming Yuuzhan Vong cruisers with many beams impacting on a single ship gouging enough trenches for the ships to simply fall apart. The heavy ion beams of the Command Carriers took an even heavier toll with one shot per ship slicing enemy cruisers in half or punching glowing holes through the warships. Commander Crichton looked uncertainly at an anomaly that seemed to be building behind the Peacekeeper fleet. "Oh bugger" he thought as he realised what it was

* * *

**PKCC **_**Protector**_

Had Warmaster Jha'dur ever heard of the American Civil War she would have thought that Warmaster Tasvong La had just pulled a McClellan for just like that old general he had suddenly abandoned all his usual tactics and done something unexpected. "Bugger" Warmaster Jha'dur thought as several hundred Yuuzhan Vong warships and a couple of thousand cruisers dropped out of hyperspace directly behind the Peacekeeper fleet. "Well I didn't become a Warmaster by being inflexible" she thought "I will simply have to write off the traditional Dilgar slashing attacks on the flanks and redeploy the third fleet to deal with them" "Order the Third Strike Fleet to come about and engage rear targets" she ordered

Sensing weakness as the firepower being sent towards them decreased by 1/3 the Yuuzhan Vong fleet in front redoubled its efforts, having caught the Peacekeeper fleet in a crossfire the casualties began to mount.

* * *

**PKC **_**Basilisk**_

Commander John Crichton was thrown to the floor as his cruisers defence screen failed and Basilisk began to take hits directly to her armoured hull. "Dam it we have to get out of this crossfire" he thought "The Command Carriers may be able to take it but the cruisers can't and with the Yuuzhan Vong's numbers we don't have many ships to lose" "Bows up 30 degrees" he ordered "they think we're weak? we'll show them how weak we are. Fire the main gun!" The Basilisks ion beam lashed out across space eviscerating an enemy cruiser. The Peacekeeper fleet may have been in trouble but it wasn't going down without a fight

* * *

**PKCC **_**Protector**_

Jha'dur was of the opinion that while cursing Tasvong la's sudden acquisition of an imagination would have eased her blood pressure it would look very unseemly so she gritted her teeth and looked at the display trying to find some way to extradite her fleet from the situation it had found itself in. "Well its not going to cause as much damage as I hoped but it's the only way" she thought "Order the Gang Bang" she called out "and send epsilon in the clear

Many had asked why the Command Carrier had such a small fighter compliment, only two more squadrons than an Imperial II SD, when it was more than triple the length. The answer was that as well as hyperspace and subspace drives like the cruisers the Command Carriers also mounted the old style jump engines. The reason for this was the signature Peacekeeper move, the Minbari Gang Bang. Officially known as the Jump point attack the MGB, named after the first race to use it, involved multiple ships jumping into a pre set area, usually the centre of an enemy fleet, to cause widespread damage and chaos allowing the main fleet to charge up and support the newly emerged ships routing the enemy. Jha'dur had redesigned it in case of just such an occurrence as now when drastic action was needed to escape a foolproof enemy trap

As the Command Carriers exited jump space casing widespread casualties amongst the Yuuzhan Vong fleet instead of engaging they immediately shifted power to their subspace drives and ploughed into the vortexes at full speed before the Yuuzhan Vong gunners could recover. Angry at being denied their prey they turned to unleash their fury on the trapped First and Second Strike Fleets. Unfortunately for them they were no longer there.

* * *

**Peacekeeper Shadow Class Stealth Fighter**

Rasten of the Star Riders clan of Minbar ran his hand lovingly over the controls of his stealth fighter. While most pilots considered flying it in combat suicide because of its nonexistent defences, pitiful missile compliment and two gun mounts Rasten saw it more as a challenge. With the inability of any known sensor system to lock on to it enemy pilots had to resort to visual targeting and the razor thin profile made that difficult at best, in the hands of an exceptional pilot the shadow was unsurpassed in a dog fight. Rasten considered himself and exceptional pilot. Having received constant telemetry from the main strike craft battle he had seen the main fleets caught in a cross fire and waited for the orders he felt sure were coming. The flagship signalled epsilon

* * *

**PKC **_**Basilisk**_

Commander John Crichton sighed with relief as the subspace vortex's appeared around the smaller enemy fleet that his own Third Strike Fleet was engaging. The crew cheered as the Howitzer class bombers unleashed their Cyclops torpedoes at the Yuuzhan Vong cruisers, massive chunks were vaporised or reduced to a twisted mass of burnt coral, reactors overloaded and magazines exploded and his cruiser slipped into subspace along with the rest of the Third Strike Fleet

* * *

**Peacekeeper Shadow**

Rasten ignored the shockwaves from detonating Cyclops's and cruisers with gaping holes and continued to escort one of the special Howitzer bomber wings. Armed with the Helios torpedo, a very new, very expensive design that used matter and antimatter annihilation to give a yield equal to several Cyclops torpedoes, they ignored the cruisers and made attack runs on the warships at the heart of the Yuuzhan Vong formation. Some Helios's hit the escorting cruisers blasting them into pieces but most hit the warships creating huge craters where their hanger bays, engines and largest concentration of weapons had been.

With their own coralskippers tied up engaging the Peacekeeper tsunamis and tornadoes and devoid of targets due to the absence of the three strike fleets the Yuuzhan Vong fleet recombined, bunching up to try and overlap their anti starfighter defences. Rasten smiled as the First, Second and Third Strike Fleets exited subspace with precision only possible with Astarii battle meditation.

* * *

**Corellia **

When the Peacekeeper fleets emerged from subspace they did so in three dagger formations. Two daggers were on the same 2D plain as the Yuuzhan Vong fleet but were at 90 degree angles to each other. The third was directly above the enemy fleet. With none of their own ships in their sights the Peacekeeper warships were able to open up on the massed target in front of them with every weapon at their disposal. The Yuuzhan Vong had had the Peacekeepers in a crossfire, they were eager to return the favour

At the end of the day one message screamed across the holo net "Tasvong La is dead! The Republic has won! Corellia is free!"

Several hundred thousand more systems joined the GRP in the coming weeks

* * *

**Two years later**

James Koren looked at the two other representatives. He remembered when, a couple of months after the Battle For Corellia, the three of them had met the arrogant ambassador from the newly formed Galactic Alliance. The ambassador had promptly demanded that they all join the Galactic Alliance, aka the New Republic Mk2, in order to give the GA the firepower it needed to fight back. James had relished putting the man in his place by pointing out that the GRP, the Imperial Remnant and the Chiss Ascendancy had already formed an Interstellar Alliance to combat the Yuuzhan Vong and had been doing so for some time.

The spluttering fool had then said that if they weren't going to join then they would leave Galactic Alliance territory at once. The revelation of just how many systems had abandoned the New Republic on its fall and joined the GRP rather than wait for them to get their act together had him ranting about 'stealing systems' for hours. Even today when one of them came up he could still be heard muttering 'their ours', 'unfair' and 'traitors' conveniently forgetting that the Galactic Alliance abandoned them to their fate and expected them to cower until it came back as their 'saviour'. Well those worlds had showed them just what they thought of that.

However the entire galaxy recognised that it was Warmaster Jha'dur who had met with most success against the Yuuzhan Vong and that it was GRP ships and Scarren shock troops that had allowed her to do so. At great expense to James's blood pressure and the GA's pride the Galactic Alliance joined the Interstellar Alliance as junior partners.

Today James had convened a meeting without the Galactic Alliance representative to discuss a possible end to the war without hysterics. He looked over at the Imperial representative. "As we all know" he began "Anakin Skywalker rediscovered Zonama Sekot several months ago and has learned the truth about the Yuuzhan Vong's origins and history. Peacekeeper disruptors have been spreading this knowledge throughout the Yuuzhan Vong ranks for months and they have assassinated Shimmera and his court. Warmaster Nas Choka is completely outmatched and he knows it but I would rather not have to fight hundreds of thousands of ships for a planet that is being teraformed to Yuuzhan Vong standards and has no indigenous population left."

"We need to make sure they know that they are beaten" the Chiss representative said "Otherwise this will all happen again when some maniac says the undefeated army were stabbed in the back by the political class"

"Correct" James allowed "But they all know they are defeated. They have no holdings left except Coruscant, we have pushed them out of everywhere else"

"What peace terms do you propose then?" the Imperial representative asked

"The Yuuzhan Vong are to be limited to a small strip of territory in the core worlds, Coruscant at one end and the Knnroacht Cluster at the other. Zonama Sekot will be allowed to jump into this region to help the Yuuzhan Vong reorganise themselves into a peaceful society. They are allowed to keep only a minimal security force to deter piracy containing no ships larger than cruiser class and this is to be unchanged for a period of no less than 500 years."

"Those are reasonable and more or less what we were going to impose anyway but why should we let them keep Coruscant?" the Imperial representative questioned

"At least they didn't reject it out right" James thought "Because it's worthless" he answered "there is no surviving population or industry, the environment is changed beyond repair and it is going to cost us hundreds of thousands of ships and millions of lives to take nothing more than a damaged empty symbol"

"The Galactic Alliance will not like ceding what they see as their capitol to the Yuuzhan Vong" The Chiss representative warned

"Then they can kill their own troops to get it back, not ours" James replied shortly "We will still provide them with Bacta from Thyferra but if they want Coruscant that desperately then they can continue the war alone"

"There will be a lot of screaming involved" The Imperial representative noted wirily "But better that than millions of our citizens dead for the Galactic Alliances pride"

Four days later the Yuuzhan Vong war was over and Coruscant remained the capitol of the Yuuzhan Vong territory. It appears that, in the Galactic Alliance at least, pride is what you kill other peoples soldiers for, not your own.

* * *

**Stargate Command**

Colonel Jack O'neill was sat at the main computer in the control room of Stargate Command, his hands flying at superhuman speed over the keyboard "On reflection" he thought "Sticking my head in that alien dohicky probably wasn't the brightest idea I have ever had" deep in his subconscious as well as programming in new gate addresses and a program to dial the Asgard homeworld for help he added a command to be sent out with the next correlative update, an update that even the supergates received, activate.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE SEQUEL

REPUBLIC: INTO THE FIRE

* * *

Ok the galaxy map. Better if you review and ask me for it but I'll do my best to describe it here

YV territory - Coruscant and the core worlds west to the Knnroacht Cluster

GRP – border with Chiss Ascendancy almost straight line across from the Knnroacht Cluster the edge of the galaxy. Entire deep core under GRP control. GRP controlled border worlds with GA are Vulpter, Talus and Tralus, Corellia, Froz, Nubia, Aleen, M'haeli, Malastare, Omwat and then the border runs parallel wit the Rimma Trade Route to the edge of the galaxy.

Chiss - Borders with GRP, YV, GA and IR. Border worlds controlled by Chiss are Reecee and Nirauan East border with IR

IR - Border worlds are Yaga Minor, Muunilist, Bastion, Helska, Belkadan. Border continues to edge of the galaxy

GA – Everything else

Reviewing takes 30 seconds. Please do so, I like to get conformation that people are actually reading this and I'm not just writing to myself


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